New Beginnings
by Nigellica
Summary: Team 7 is under cover as high school students. Under the careful supervision of Iruka and the... supervision of Kakashi. The team's very core is disrupted with Naruto suddenly Mr. Popular and the Ice Prince is left out in the cold. SasuNaru KakaIru
1. Chapter 1

Naruto sat and thought, an unusual occurrence for the young ninja. And his thoughts dwelled not upon a mission, no technique or anything related to his goal. His thoughts, for once were not even upon ramen. His thoughts were about his fellow team member, not Sakura but Sasuke. He was sure he had a reason to hate him, he was positive there was an excuse to fight him and pound his pretty face into the dirt, but however long he thought though he couldn't seem to isolate the reason for his undying hatred of the young man.

They had always fought, that he was reasonably sure about. They had always had some sort of unspoken enmity there, well not really unspoken but it was there nevertheless. When had they exactly become friends though? When had malice become respect? He was sure they had never exactly said anything about it, he certainly hadn't anyway. He had continued to regard the Uchiha with the same determination to destroy as he always had. If he hadn't changed though, what had?

OoOoO

Sasuke was also thinking, not exactly a novel experience for the young Uchiha. However he too was thinking of something quite different to his usual ideas of revenge and torture for the person who had once been his brother. He was also aware of the odd shift in the relationship between him and his team mate, once again not poor Sakura who would have loved to be in the Uchiha's thoughts, but Naruto. Something had changed, they had somehow moved beyond enemies, beyond rivals. Although Sasuke would most likely never admit that there had been any connection in the first place.

There was something odd about the blond haired boy, aside from the obvious of course. He was different to all of the other villagers who seemed to want to do things for him and talk about him, some even marry him! He had never been all that keen on the idea of all the girls in the village fawning over him. As he walked past a mirror he once again cursed his looks. Why couldn't he have been ugly? That would have been so much easier for the loner, although that may still have earned him the pity of the villagers who seemed to think that he needed to be looked after and pampered. Naruto had no family and no-one fussed over him. Sometimes Sasuke wished they could trade places. He would rather be treated with fear and suspicion than sympathy and God knows what other emotions those people wasted on him. Couldn't they see their emotions would be far more effective on Naruto?

OoOoO

Naruto couldn't figure the Uchiha out. They had been team mates for quite a while and never once had the boy made any attempt to make friends among the villagers who seemed to dote on his every movement. He could have had a different date for each night of the week and still some leftover in case of emergency. He had money to burn and room to spare and still he made no move on any of the girls in the village, none of the boys either for that matter. Sakura and Ino must have asked him out at least once a day and still he showed no sign of accepting either of their invitations. Meanwhile any advances on Sakura by Naruto were still doomed to fail. He just couldn't understand. If Sasuke didn't want any of those things, what else could he possibly want?

OoOoO

Team Seven had been called in to see the Hokage who had rare mission for the youngsters. As the younger team members walked into the room they saw the odd expression on Kakashi's face. If they could read his mind they would have known he had drawn the short straw which was why they had the mission. Although if truth be told ninja's were not above cheating, Kakashi could not have drawn any other straw even with his Sharingan, the Hokage was determined that Naruto would be on this mission.

"As you know I have called you here for a rare and interesting mission. Unlike your normal missions this is an undercover mission and instead of the relative shortness of your missions this mission shall be substantially longer. We are not quite sure what we are dealing with yet but there have been a number of strange occurrences in a foreign school. The headmaster is originally from this area and has asked for some of our ninjas to go undercover as students to find out what is behind them. So until you discover the meaning behind what is happening you will be living undercover in the city and attending public school. No-one is to know your true identity or your links to Konoha. That is all, Kakashi has the details of the mission and you will be further briefed by him. That is all." The Hokage breathed a sigh of relief as Naruto and Sasuke walked out the door.

'Perhaps we will all get some peace with the two of them gone. Now maybe we can fix some of the damage from their last fight,' The old man sighed and leaned back in his chair, 'three, two, one.'

Right on time he heard the shouting voices arguing with Kakashi. He sighed, if anyone could work it out it would be Kakashi, maybe with a bit of help from Iruka.

"Why do I have to live with Sasuke bastard?" yelled Naruto, "Can't we get our own places? We could all be rich overseas students! If we have to be undercover why can't we at least pick something cool? I could be Nish, the richest handsomest guy in my village coming to grace the school with my high level of intelligence and good looks."

"We're not meant to draw attention to ourselves dobe," Sasuke said rolling his eyes.

"Sasuke-kun's right Naruto we don't want to be too noticeable," Sakura said smiling at Sasuke.

'Alright!' she thought, 'Living with Sasuke! Why can't we get more missions like this?"

Kakashi sighed, he had a feeling he was being cheated here, "Look Naruto, if you have the money to pay for all that then you can play that part if you want to but we don't have all that much money to be able to throw it around like that. As it is we will be renting a small house to live in and Iruka will be coming with us and the two of us will have to work as teachers at the school you are going to attend." Kakashi shuddered inwardly at the idea of all the boring, mundane subjects he would have to teach.

"Iruka-sensei's coming too?" Naruto seemed to brighten at the idea. Kakashi knew that Iruka was almost like a father or big brother figure to Naruto and the idea of having him along cheered the Jounin immensely.

"Yes Naruto, I'm coming too. Someone has to keep all of you in line," Iruka put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "And make sure you eat something other than ramen!"

"Why?" Naruto asked as if idea was a stupid one.

"Because your body needs more than that," Kakashi told him, "Right well go pack some things we are leaving this afternoon. Make sure to take enough stuff that we won't have to wash too regularly."

Iruka rolled his eyes at him, "Make sure you take whatever is necessary but remember you have to carry everything so don't take too much and I will be quite happy to wash as often as we need it."

"Right, well go!" Kakashi told them. Naruto and the others dashed off to their homes to pack some clothes for their newest adventure.

"You don't have to do the washing you know," Kakashi told Iruka jokingly, "We can just burn it when it gets too bad."

"You're hopeless, thank goodness I'm coming along or you'd all be dead within a week," Iruka said smiling at the silver haired man.

"That's not the only reason," Kakashi said grabbing his hand, "I'm glad you're coming with us," he let go of the hand when he heard smashing, "If I had to break up all the fights I think I'd go mad!" He vanished in a puff of smoke and Iruka sighed and followed the sound.

OoOoO

Naruto looked around his room. What would he definitely need to be gone for so long? He picked up his sleeping cap, would it be too childish to take? After all he would be living with Sasuke-bastard and Sakura. It was the Sakura part that worried him he told himself. Would she think it was too immature? He had always had it. The blonde boy sighed, perhaps it was time they were separated. He bustled around his room packing whatever was clean as well as all the weapons he could carry. After all it stood to reason that wherever they were going would have nothing like this.

OoOoO

Sasuke had a rather simpler approach to packing. Anything that looked sharp was packed immediately, clothes were an afterthought. Although to say he was unconcerned would be stretching the truth, he didn't face the same agonising decisions that Sakura had over exactly how fat each of her clothes made her look. After all she was going to be living with Sasuke-kun. She squealed and collapsed on her bed. Living with Sasuke, could life get any better? She wondered if she had time to visit Ino to rub it in. An evil grin crossed her face, there was always time for that!

OoOoO

It was almost sunset by the time the team left, although for once it was not Kakashi who was late. They had all waited for hours for Sakura to return from her gloating session with Ino. It was then that she realised she had left her bag at home, she had then taken ages to drag her hugely overstuffed bag to join the others at which point Kakashi had wisely decided to say nothing. Iruka firmly put his foot down that if she was going to bring her whole wardrobe she would have to carry it. Sakura had gone home and weeded out everything that was not absolutely necessary with considerable help from Kakashi. The bag was now able to fit on her back and contained rather less sharp corners than any of the boys'.


	2. Chapter 2

Their trip was largely uneventful except for a few Kakashi related incidents which he will gladly tell you about another time.

As the three teens and their teachers walked into their new house the boys noticed something.

"There's only three rooms," Sasuke observed.

"Of course, I told you we didn't have a large budget for this mission so we could only get a small house. Iruka and I will share and Sakura will have her own room," Kakashi told them quickly pulling his mask up over his ears in preparation for the explosion.

"I'M NOT SHARING WITH SASUKE-BASTARD!" Naruto yelled just as Sasuke opened his mouth.

"You can't honestly expect me to share a room with this dobe! He probably snores and everything," the Uchiha said glaring at the loud-mouthed blonde.

"I DO NOT SNORE!" Naruto yelled at the brunette.

"Quiet both of you!" Iruka said shutting the door behind them, "While we are here you are not to draw attention to yourselves or the rest of us. Kakashi and Sakura I'm talking to the two of you as well. We are undercover here and none of you are to draw any attention to us. No-one is to know anything about ninjas or Konoha, in fact forget the name Konoha! You've been enrolled at the local school under your real names but you are not to mention anything else from the past. You are all exchange students staying here under the supervision of Kakashi and myself who are high school teachers and this is the first time we have met. If any of you are caught using your ninja training by either of us you will be severely punished."

"What's the use in us being here if we can't use our training," Naruto whined.

"He didn't say we can't use them idiot, he said we can't be caught there's a big difference," Sasuke told him rolling his eyes.

"That's right, now go up and unpack," the three teens began up the stairs, "Oh Sasuke can you please stay here for a moment?"

Sasuke walked back down the stairs and waited, "Right well the Hokage asked me to give you these."

Sasuke unwrapped a small package with four little circles of colour in it

"They're contact lenses," Iruka explained, "There is one set of your normal colour and one set of sharingan style lenses so you can swap between to cover up when you use your sharingan. Either you can wear one set all the time or you swap between them every once in a while, the teachers won't punish you for it, they have been given a medical certificate for their use."

The boy put them in his pocket and walked up the stairs as Naruto and Sakura both bolted down the stairs carrying coat hangers of clothes.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Sakura demanded holding up the hanger with the blouse, tie and short skirt. Naruto held up a hanger with long trousers, collared shirt and tie.

Kakashi followed them laughing, "Nope that's your new uniforms. They must be worn everyday at school."

"WHAT!" the two screeched together.

"That's the rules, there's one there for you too Sasuke," The Uchiha's eye twitched, "Well don't just stand there! Go try them on!" Kakashi laughed again as the three climbed the stairs slowly.

Sasuke got to the room first and slammed the door in the blonde's face.

"Come on Sasuke, I have to try this on," Naruto whined.

"Use the bathroom moron I'm getting changed in here," came the muffled reply.

"Oh right,' Naruto mumbled getting changed in the bathroom. He looked in the mirror, he wasn't sure about the colour (but then again he wasn't really sure of any colour that wasn't orange) but he thought the navy blue pants and tie and white shirt looked quite attractive on him. He walked out into the hallway and almost burst out laughing. If looks could kill the whole planet would have spontaneously combusted at the look it was getting from Sasuke, although the uniform did suit him. Naruto sulked, anything would suit Sasuke. The two of them glared at each other and walked down the stairs to where Kakashi and Iruka were waiting. Naruto couldn't help but strike a pose for them and received a smile in return from Iruka. Kakashi just burst out laughing at both of them.

"Don't forget to take off your forehead protectors boys, we really should have left them back in Konoha," Iruka mused.

"Do I really have to wear this?" Came Sakura's muffled voice from somewhere on the second floor.

"Yes," chorused Kakashi and Iruka together.

There was an audible sigh and Sakura came down the stairs in the navy blue pleated mini skirt and tie with the tight white blouse.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Sakura asked pulling at her skirt, "Do they actually expect us to wear these things? How are we supposed to be able fight if we have to worry about this?"

Iruka tried to hold back a smile, "I don't think you are supposed to be fighting Sakura. I think they expect you to have more, er, ladylike pursuits."

"I think it looks great!" Naruto told the girl, almost drooling over the ensemble, she sighed.

"So what do you think Sasuke-kun?" she turned to him and fluttered her eyelashes.

"We all look like idiots," the boy stated moving up the stairs to get rid of the clothes as soon as possible.

OoOoO

Sasuke was right but it was absolutely no comfort. Naruto did snore. Loudly. So far he hadn't gotten even a wink of sleep, he covered his head with a pillow, which, contrary to popular belief was absolutely no use at all! He thought of smothering the boy or just pinching his nose or something, smothering definitely sounded more permanent but they might not like that. He had heard somewhere that rolling people on their sides helped, or was that stomach? The boy decided just to roll Naruto over until he stopped snoring. The boy was on his back and the bed was almost vibrating with the sound, he wondered if the others could hear it. He got his hands under the blonde boy's sides and lifted. He almost had a heart attack when Naruto started rolling of his own accord and pulled the Uchiha over with him. The boy had somehow trapped Sasuke's hands between his side and arm and when he rolled the brunette either had to go with him or bend his arms in a rather unnatural way. He chose the less painful of the two. He realised he was lying next to Naruto and wasn't entirely sure that he had chosen the best option. The blonde moved his arms and the Uchiha tried to make a quick escape but Naruto was too quick for him. Before he could get anywhere the boy had grabbed him in a big bear hug. This was going to be mighty embarrassing in the morning and Sasuke had absolutely no faith whatsoever in Naruto's ability to keep this to himself.

Sasuke inwardly sighed, he was such a moron. Why get caught in a situation like this when he was a ninja? One jutsu later and he was safely out of Naruto's clutches and the boy was harmlessly hugging a pillow. And the snoring had stopped. Sasuke finally drifted off into a land of disturbing dreams.

OoOoO

"I'm so glad you came along too. If I had no-one but Sakura to help break up the fights between the boys I think I would go crazy," Kakashi told Iruka later in their shared bedroom.

"You already told me that," Iruka reminded him, blushing, "Do you think you might be able to get off me now?"

"I suppose so," Kakashi rolled over reluctantly, "But we're going to be stuck here together for a while so we might as well get to know each other a bit better."

"Kakashi I can quite easily get to know people without having to share a bed!"

"Well you're no fun!" Kakashi pouted, "Anyway if we're trying to save money maybe we should huddle together for warmth," he suggested cheekily.

"Kakashi! We are sharing a house with three of our impressionable young students! What would they think if they found us…you know…" Iruka blushed and rolled away so the jounin could not see his face. This was not how he had ever thought this mission would possibly go. The last person he had thought he would need to fight off was Kakashi!

"Come on Iruka-sensei, I even sound proofed the walls!" Kakashi leaned over and ran his hand down the other man's back, "You know you want to."

Iruka stiffened, what was he doing? They were ninja on a mission, shouldn't Kakashi be taking this more seriously? He sighed, since when did Kakashi ever take anything seriously? He remembered the bag full of Icha Icha Paradises that the silver-haired man had brought with him, nope he never took anything seriously. Maybe if he just pretended to be asleep…

He felt something pinch his bum, nope that didn't work.

"Kakashi if you don't calm down I am going to go sleep on the couch!" Iruka told him sternly.

"Fine," he sighed, "You'll come around eventually." He smiled and lay down to sleep. This was going much better than he'd planned. He thought Iruka would have left ages ago.

OoOoO

Sakura knew nothing of the problems going on in the other rooms, her thoughts focused more on the immediate future. New school, she shuddered under the blankets, she would have to make new friends. She groaned, trying to do that with Naruto fawning all over her would be almost impossible! Maybe she could hook him up with some unsuspecting girl, and Sasuke, she felt a fear grip her heart. What if he found someone else? A new school full of female students who would surely jump all over him as soon as he got there. This was going to be a nightmare!


	3. Chapter 3

They somehow managed to get through breakfast without damaging or destroying anything, much to Iruka's disbelief, and with a minimum of fighting. Luckily he had been prepared, he cooked everything himself and then woke Sakura up, she could use the bathroom before breakfast, then he woke the boys up for breakfast. Once they had finished Sakura came down for hers and they quickly got ready and so everyone was ready to leave at the same time. Kakashi had already been gone when he woke up, although he had no idea where.

They went straight to the office to meet with the principal

"I'm so glad you were able to come on such short notice. I'm Mr Hakura, I'm the principal here. We have had students disappearing and other odd occurrences within the school and we need your help finding out what is happening. Only the faculty know why you're here, we don't want to worry the students or their parents so please keep this to yourselves," the principal wiped his forehead and sat down behind his desk.

"Of course sir, we are trained in the arts of secrecy," Iruka said, more to the students than the principal, "We won't be any trouble at all, apart from the student sort of trouble anyway. I am Iruka this is Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke." He said gesturing to each of the others.

"Of course, where is my other teacher?"

"Uh, I think he may be investigating the layout of the school," he said blushing, obviously uncomfortable with covering up for the other teacher, "He should be here fairly soon. He's very good at being unobtrusive."

The laugh arrived before he did, Kakashi appeared in one of the seats opposite the desk, "Nice school you have here. I'm Kakashi, sorry I'm late."

"Oh uh welcome Kakashi," the man said both flustered and impressed by his sudden appearance, "Oh here are the students timetables and a map for each of you. If you need anything don't hesitate to come ask. Could the two of you stay here so that I can explain the classes you'll need to be teaching? The rest of you can go."

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were firmly ushered out into the hallway, Sakura was still trying to adjust her skirt obviously uncomfortable without her shorts underneath.

"So uh, what do you guys have first?" Sakura asked brightly looking at her timetable.

"Um it looks like I've got…maths," Naruto wrinkled up his nose.

"Maths," Sasuke, man of a thousand words informed them.

"Oh," Sakura said disappointedly, "I have history. Hey I'll meet you guys at lunch okay? I have to go find my locker." They had all been given lockers filled with all the books they would need for their classes, courtesy of the school.

"Hn," Sasuke said making his way to his own locker.

"Okay! I'll be there, don't worry about Sasuke-bastard I'm sure he'll come too. After all who else would want to sit with him?" Naruto grinned, "See you at morning tea!"

Naruto whistled as he made his way to the locker they had given him. This was going to be fun, new school, new town, new start. So he couldn't be a ninja here, at least he wasn't a fox demon either. He was surprised that Sasuke wasn't embracing it more. Here he could be ignored just like he always seemed to want. He would no longer be a figure of pity or worship. After all it obviously wasn't his personality that endeared him to people.

Naruto made his way to the classroom for maths and slid into a seat next to Sasuke, new students should stick together right? Sasuke had managed to take a seat in the very back left corner. Naruto smiled, they'd probably be asked to introduce themselves and everything, as he smothered a giggle he wondered whether Sasuke realised that meant they'd have to walk all the way to the front, past all of the curious students.

The door opened and someone who was obviously a teacher entered and stood up the front. "Welcome everyone, we have two new students today. Would you boys like to come up here?" Naruto grinned broadly and walked up to the front and stood on one side of the teacher, Sasuke glared and did the same.

"Can you please introduce yourselves to the class?"

"Hi! I'm Naruto Uzimaki, this is Sasuke Uchiha we've both just transferred here which unfortunately means I'll be stuck with him a while. I do have a map but I'm quite open to being shown around," he winked outrageously, "And yes ladies I am single."

A laugh went up around the room and Naruto grinned even more, this was laughing with not at, he was quite aware of the difference.

The teacher looked at him and smiled, "I'm Mr Ito, did you have anything else to add Mr Uchiha?" he glared and shook his head, "Well then would you boys like to sit down again and we'll begin the lesson."

They made their way up the back again with Naruto grinning the whole way and shaking a couple of hands and ending up with quite a few notes on his way. Sasuke walked quickly and sat down ignoring all of the proffered hands and friendly looks, he sat and glared at the blonde who was obviously enjoying all the attention. Naruto finally sat down and the girl next to him leaned over.

"I'm Amaya, if you still want someone to show you around I'd be glad to," she smiled and winked.

Yep, Naruto thought, this was going to be fun.

OoOoO

Sakura was enjoying herself too. When she introduced herself there had been quite a few whistles and catcalls, what surprised her most was that they weren't exclusively from the guys. Although that worried her a bit she was sure that meant she would have no trouble making friends. Of course, she told herself, friends meant contacts and ways to find out more about the problems in the school. Really though she just liked the idea of having girlfriends to gossip.

'I'll have to be a bit more careful about how I throw that word around I guess,' she thought to herself.

OoOoO

Sasuke was not having fun. Unfortunately Naruto had decided that the offer to show him around included the Uchiha. So he walked around while the blonde talked animatedly to Amaya who seemed just as interested.

'How long until lunchtime?' he wondered. 'At least then we'll be able to get away from all of these morons.'

Unfortunately for him it was not meant to be. Word had spread throughout the school about the three new students and everyone wanted to find out about them for themselves. Luckily for them Sakura and Naruto were quite happy to answer their questions. Sasuke just sat there and alternated between glaring at people and ignoring them.

"What's his problem?" someone asked after being on the end of one of his particularly nasty glares.

"Oh don't worry about Sasuke-bastard! He's always like that, you just get used to it," Naruto told them laughing.

"Wow talk about the ice prince!" one girl said sarcastically and the whole crowd laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

Sasuke was infuriated, no one had ever talked to him like that except Naruto. He had made an exception for the other boy because they were rivals. It was almost like a brother thing, they could insult each other but if anyone else did it was on. Sasuke stood up and left, he didn't have to take that from a bunch of losers. Naruto watched slightly apologetically as the other walked off stiffly. He'd have to apologise for it later of course but he had just been trying to loosen everyone up. If they all started calling him Sasuke-bastard Naruto knew he'd be in trouble.

"Where's he going?" asked one of the girls, "Talk about attitude."

"Oh don't worry about Sasuke, he's just not very social but he's alright when you get to know him." There, Naruto had done his best to stop things before they got started. He could have used Sakura's help in shutting himself up but she was too busy talking about blow drying techniques to a bunch of rapt listeners.

Naruto thought about it as he made his way to his locker after his final class. Everyone else had emptied out pretty quick with smiles and waves and promises to talk tomorrow so he had the halls almost to himself. Their group had always worked in Konoha, there had always been a bit of a balance but why? He and Sasuke were always fighting and calling each other names and Sakura was always trying to break them up. She always took Sasuke's side but Naruto liked her too much to fight her over that and he was too positive to let their fights get to him. But here Sakura wasn't doing her part and the whole group was falling to pieces, she wasn't massaging the Uchiha's ego the boy realised, and that seemed to be the problem. Naruto could handle being insulted and everything, he had been his whole life, but Sasuke wasn't built to handle it. He could handle attention, which he ignored but being ignored didn't seem to sit well with him. It was odd. If their friendship, if you could call it that, was to survive it would have to change somehow. Become more self sufficient rather than dependant on Sakura.

He sighed, he should go find Sasuke and apologise. He wasn't sure what for yet he just knew he had to.

"Our little boy is growing up," Kakashi said putting his arm around Iruka's shoulder.

He pulled away, "Kakashi please! Not at school, we have to be under cover."

"I tried to get you under covers all night!" the jounin said innocently.

"Undercover! You idiot, what if someone sees?" Iruka blushed as he felt a hand hit his bottom.

"Iruka honey, that's the least of your worries."

OoOoO

Gross, Sakura had just seen something she never wanted to see in her life. Kakashi-sensei groping Iruka-sensei. She would never look at them the same again. Actually she probably would, it was just the kind of the thing you'd expect from Kakashi and Iruka's reaction was just what you'd expect of him also. What she hadn't expected was the reaction of the other students to their arrival. She had already surrounded herself with a whole group of friends both male and female, that wasn't what had surprised her. But their reaction to noisy, annoying Naruto was. They had all taken to him like they had known him all their lives, it was so strange watching him be popular. He did it so much better than Sasuke a voice inside her head told her. And Sasuke, well she'd barely seen him she had to admit. They hadn't really had any classes together that she had noticed. She would have been astonished to learn that in that one day they had shared three classes that she hadn't even noticed him in.

OoOoO

Sasuke wasn't jealous. He didn't like people and therefore could not be jealous at the way they had reacted to the three of them. He knew Sakura would make friend easily, after all she was a people person. But Naruto was a surprise, sure he had a natural charisma and made people laugh but he had never really had friends so how did he seem to know exactly what to do with them? It had come as a surprise to the Uchiha that no-one had reacted to him like they did back in Konoha. Here they all seemed to ignore him as much as he ignored everyone else. It was slightly depressing to know that it wasn't even his looks that attracted people to him back home, only his name and history. That was all he had when he came here, he still looked and acted the same as he always did but now everyone seemed to hate him rather than love him. It was a weird change. Not that he was complaining, of course he would never complain about being disliked after all he didn't like people so why should they like him? This was what he'd always wanted wasn't it? To be liked or hated for himself rather than his name or some sort of romantic ideal of him, if it happened to be hated all the better for him. So why wasn't he happy?

"Hey Sasuke-kun," Naruto said taking a seat next to him, "What's up?"

"Hn," the Uchiha informed him still absorbed in his own thoughts.

"Hey look, I'm sorry about today, in the cafeteria I mean. It's weird huh? Being at a new school I mean, I've never been to any other school so starting new is weird. Especially in a different town, I haven't even been teased properly once since I got here. Still it is early days, I'm going to go hang out with some of them on Friday did you want to come too?" Naruto's face was open and smiling.

"Why? We're here on a mission dobe, and I don't need your apologies. We're not here to make friends they'll only get in our way. Don't forget that," Sasuke told him in a flat tone.

"You're wrong," Naruto told him cheerfully, "Sakura said we should be making as many friends as possible so that if anything goes on they'll talk to us about it. It'll make intelligence gathering much easier."

Sasuke bristled visibly at being told he was wrong, "And give whoever is causing the problems leverage. If you get attached to someone they have a hostage they can use to their advantage. And what the hell would you know about intelligence gathering? You couldn't even gather enough for yourself!" Sasuke felt a little better after his insult, insulting Naruto, although easy, never failed to cheer him up slightly.

The reaction however left something to be desired, "Think what you like Sasuke, friends will come in handy. And by the way if they pick up my habit of insulting you I am sorry, but only because I'll have to share a room with a bitchy Sasuke." With that Naruto dropped out of the tree and went inside.

"How was your first day?" Iruka asked as the blonde walked in the door.

"Awesome!" Naruto said smiling, "Everyone here is so…nice! Oh is it alright if I hang out after school with some of the others? They invited me, how cool is that?"

Iruka smiled, "Sounds like you had a terrific day, of course you can hang out with them. You seem to be making the most of the new start."

"Yeah its cool going somewhere no-one knows anything about you. They have no preconceptions or anything it's awesome!" Naruto enthused, "How was your day?"

'Well that's a loaded question,' thought Iruka, 'I found out what classes I'm teaching. Organised the syllabus and everything that the other teachers had set up for me and familiarised myself with it in amongst dodging Kakashi who groped me every time we came in contact. But I can't tell that part to Naruto.'

"It was good," he said finally, "I'm going to be teaching Japanese, they had everything set up for me and everything so all I really had to go through everything and make sure I understood it so it was a fairly easy day for me. I'll start taking classes tomorrow so that should be interesting. Especially if I have any of you which I imagine I will at some point."

"You'll make a good teacher," Naruto agreed.

"Naruto I already am a teacher, I taught you for ages," Iruka said laughing.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Hey have you seen Sakura? I haven't seen her since I got home."

"Oh she's here somewhere," Kakashi said from behind him, "I think she's on the phone. Where's Sasuke?"

"He's out in the tree," Naruto told him heading into the kitchen.

"Thanks," Kakashi called out and squeezed Iruka on the bottom as he headed out the door.

"Ka- dammit he keeps on doing that! I'm going to have to start wearing padding," Iruka muttered to himself.

"Hey Sasuke," Kakashi greeted the boy as he joined him in the tree, "How was the first day? Different to Konoha isn't it?"

"Hn," Sasuke told him in a toneless voice, still staring off into the distance.

Kakashi looked at him and raised an eyebrow, interested at the Uchiha's reaction, not the verbal reaction, that was fairly standard, but from what he could see the boy was not handling what he had imagined he always wanted. He was now just Sasuke, his family name meant nothing he had no terrible history, no expectations and no pressure to do anything. Yet rather than enjoying it as he had always imagined he would, he appeared to be miserable. Well he tried, let him come out in his own time.

OoOoO

The second night was, if possible, worse than the first. Naruto managed to snore even louder and totally destroy any hopes of sleeping better than the night before.

'At least I know how to fix it now,' Sasuke thought, blushing as he remembered the night before, he caught the blush and scowled. There that was more like the Uchiha. He padded over to the other boy's bed and started to roll him over again, this time there was no awkwardness, no hug or caught arms. He walked silently back to his own bed. It was almost anti-climactic really, he thought there would have been some sort of reaction, even if only the boy waking up from the touch of the brunettes cold fingertips. He laid down and tried to sleep, he had been expecting something to happen and had resigned himself to it. Sasuke almost laughed out loud when he realised he actually felt cheated, as if the universe owed him something for taking away his moment of awkwardness.

"Sasuke," Naruto mumbled as he rolled over, the other boy froze in his bed, had he woke him after all? But no the blonde was still fast asleep.

"Din't mean to, bastid," he rolled over again and abruptly fell off the bed and sprung into a defensive position, suddenly very awake.

Sasuke sighed and rolled over, leaning up onto one elbow, "Could you be any louder dobe? First your snoring and now this. How the hell am I supposed to get any sleep? I'd probably get more sleep sharing with Sakura."

Naruto relaxed and sat down, "But she'd be squealing all night and...oh. Sorry Sasuke." Naruto lowered his head slightly, almost chastised.

Sasuke blinked at the unexpected reaction, hadn't he even heard what he said? The dobe was acting like he had just gotten in trouble rather than been insulted and compared to a squealing girl.

Sasuke sighed and laid back down, "Don't worry about it dobe. Just go back to sleep."

Naruto grinned at the other boy's back, score one for Naruto. If a new approach was needed for their new environment then Naruto was willing to try. He was nothing if not adaptable.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto and Sasuke pushed through the chattering throng to their lockers, as the blonde opened his an avalanche of letters came tumbling out.

"What the?" Naruto said as they were almost buried.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes, "Looks like you have a fan girl problem."

"Huh?" Naruto asked raising an eyebrow.

"You know those girls who followed me around back... home?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

"Yeah you mean like Sakura and Ino and everyone."

"Yes," Sasuke said as if speaking to a moron, "Well dobe they are what you call fan girls. Squealing annoying girls who follow you around asking you out and just generally being frustrating."

"Let me get this straight. Girls who follow you around and ask you out, and you think they're annoying?" Naruto asked slowly.

"Well duh!" Sasuke said rolling his eyes.

"Let me just ask you, are you gay? I mean seriously you can tell me," Naruto almost melted under Sasuke's high beam glare, "Then how can you not love girls following you around?"

"There he is! Get him!" shouted a voice from the other end of the hall. A giant mob of teenage girls moved like a bright coloured cloud of doom. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and sprinted for their first class. They made it just in time and pulled the door shut behind them. The brunette let go of the other boys hand and walked casually to a seat in the back corner. Naruto followed him and sat next to him.

"I get your point," the blonde told him weakly.

OoOoO

"So Sakura, what's it like living with Naruto?" one of the girls asked resting her head on her hands and gazing at her with wide eyes.

"I don't know yet," Sakura answered truthfully, "We came from the same village but we've only been living together since we moved here. He's kind of like an annoying brother."

"Annoying?" another girl gasped and then blushed.

"Well he's so... loud. And he always had a crush on me. It was so annoying," Sakura said wrinkling her nose.

"He has a crush on you? Are you guys going out?" One of the girls wailed.

"Of course not!" Sakura almost shouted. The other girls looked at her, stunned by the strength of her reaction, "I've known him for too long. It would just be weird," she added quickly.

"But he's so..." One girl began.

"Nice?"

"Cheerful?"

"Cute?"

"Yeah..." they all sighed.

Sakura almost laughed, were they walking about Naruto? He must love it here! Sure he was kinda nice, and he was definitely cheerful, but cute? He looked slightly more normal without his forehead protector, and maybe in the right light it was possible... not likely but possible... kind of.

OoOoO

Sakura was having a dilemma. She'd been considering it all day at school and now she really needed to concentrate on her homework.

"Hey Sasuke," she asked the Uchiha who was doing his homework at the opposite end of the table (Naruto said he'd do his later, and we all believe that don't we?).

"Hn," he said without looking up.

"Do you think Naruto's cute?" she asked preoccupied.

"WHAT!" he asked going bright red.

The pink haired girl was shaken from her thoughts but she pressed on.

"The girls at school think he is but I've never seen him that way. I need an impartial judge," Sakura explained staring down at her book instead of at the boy's face which she assumed would be furious. Luckily this gave him a chance to fix his expression, after all, Uchiha's don't blush.

"Of course Naruto is cute," Iruka said from behind her, "The girls here haven't seen him go through all the awkward stages that we have so they see him only as he is now. Confident, cheerful, funny and nice."

"I didn't think of that," Sakura admitted, Sasuke took his opportunity to escape. He walked out the back and started up the tree.

"No way! I've shotgunned the tree for the afternoon. Either find another tree or go glare at the world in our bedroom," Naruto called from a higher branch.

Sasuke glared in surprise at the other boy, "Since when can you shotgun a tree?"

"According to Dan you can shotgun anything so there!" he knew it was childish but Naruto couldn't help poking his tongue out.

"Well dobe I'm not moving," the brunette told him sitting on a different branch a little higher up.

Naruto glared at the obvious power play but he wasn't going to acknowledge it. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the trunk making a show of not moving, the other boy copied his move and they both sat there not moving. All afternoon.

OoOoO

"Boys! Dinner!" Iruka called out the back door.

Naruto's stomach growled and Sasuke grinned preparing for victory. All he had to do was wait until Naruto left and wait a few minutes to walk inside victorious in their little battle of stubbornness.

He could hear the blonde shifting in the darkness, "Didn't you hear Sasuke? Dinner's ready, you'd better go in."

He rolled his eyes, "After you dobe."

"Unlikely, bastard," came the muffled reply.

"Getting hungry Naruto?" Sasuke asked hungrily.

"Nope," the boy answered as his stomach growled.

OoOoO

"Boys, your dinner is in the fridge. It'll be waiting for you when you decide to stop being morons," Kakashi could feel the glares of both boys trying to burn him to a cinder, "Get some sleep before school alright?"

He retreated back into the relative safety of the house and left the two to their idiotic competition.

OoOoO

Iruka woke up in the morning and looked out the back window, both boys were slumped against the trunk on their respective branches. He smothered a smile and pulled both of them down at the same time and laid them down under the tree before he woke Sakura up.

"Boys! Breakfast!" Iruka called.

Sasuke woke with something heavy across his chest, his whole body ached and his back was wet. He tried to sit up but something dragged him back down. His mind screamed at him that something was wrong but he wasn't awake enough to care. His eyes shot open suddenly, it was warm. Not only was it warm, it was Naruto's arm he realised as he looked down. As he heard the door opening his mind kicked into gear and he rolled away from the other boy his heart racing.

"So you're awake," Kakashi said, his one visible eye twinkling, "Looks like you both lost your little competition."

"Or both won," Naruto said waking up, "I bet I fell out after Sasuke-teme."

"Actually Iruka pulled you both out at the same time," Kakashi said grinning as both boys charged inside.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello and welcome to the 6****th**** chapter. I make the chapters short so I can update more often. Anyway enjoy!**

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Naruto and Sasuke both had Kakashi as a teacher for the first time that day, his eye seemed to twinkle more than usual when he looked their way. The principal had requested he not wear the mask at school and all three new students had been eagerly awaiting their first glimpse of him maskless. The people nearby looked at Naruto weirdly when he groaned as the silver haired teacher walked in with a high necked shirt covering the bottom half of his face.

"I live with him and now I have to be taught by him as well?" Naruto just whispered loudly enough for the others to hear. There was a low ripple of laughter as the rest of the class tried to figure out what to do with the new teacher.

"Sorry I'm late, I dropped my lunch and had to find something else to eat," Kakashi said loudly to the class, his sharingan eye covered by his hair.

"Why couldn't you eat at the cafeteria like the rest of us?" Naruto demanded.

"Have you actually tried the food?" Kakashi countered with a laugh, "Anyway I am Kakashi Hatake and I will be your maths teacher for a while. Now because we haven't gotten anything done this class you will have to make it up for homework."

There were groans and mutters all around the classroom and Naruto had a sinking feeling, he had sort of accidentally on purpose forgotten to do his homework from last night. He didn't think spending the night in a tree would be an acceptable excuse somehow. The bell rang and he bolted for his locker to get the books from the night before which were still in his locker anyway.

When Sasuke arrived at his locker he found a certain blonde waiting for him.

"So, uh Sasuke," Naruto began with a big cheesy grin.

Sasuke sighed, "What Naruto?"

"You're not going to be busy at recess are you?"

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, "What do you want Naruto?"

"I was just hoping to spend some good quality time with you," Naruto began innocently, "And your last night's homework."

Sasuke slammed his locker, "And what if I am?"

"Hey it was your fault I didn't get it done! You're the one who started the little competition!" Naruto said loudly.

"Just give it up you can't even compete moron," a passer-by told Sasuke, smirking.

The Uchiha twitched. Did someone actually think Naruto could beat him at something?

"Fine. Recess outside. Bring your books, I'll help you but you're not copying me," Sasuke told the blonde storming off to his next class.

The brunette sat in the back of the classroom (again!) and watched Sakura as she revelled in her spotlight. There was an upside to this place, he decided. She hadn't squealed at him or asked him out since they first arrived which was a definite improvement. He watched as one of the other boys slipped a note in her pocket and winked at the pink haired girl. Sasuke grinned, yep upside to everything!

OoOoO

Sakura laughed and blushed as another boy slipped a note into her pocket, she never wanted to leave. This was all way too much fun. Flirting with guys was so much more interesting when they flirted back she had discovered. She wondered idly if Iruka and Kakashi would let her date, she definitely had some blackmail material after the grope she witnessed. She wondered if her parents would mind. Ino would be so jealous!

OoOoO

Naruto spent the rest of his morning classes in a flurry of activity. He finished as many questions as he could before recess, not that he didn't want to spend time with the Uchiha or anything but the less time he had to do work the better. He had Iruka for Japanese and almost laughed when the teacher ignored him, it wasn't as if they were that bad to him. But he had ruined their competition after all. He just hoped they still got dinner, Naruto gulped when he realised who the cook of the household was. He made a mental note to apologise and quick.

OoOoO

Sasuke sat out in the sun under a tree and lazily read over his book until someone cast a shadow over the page.

"Ah there you are dobe. Let's get this over with," he said closing his book.

"Who are you calling dobe?" a deeper voice answered.

Sasuke looked up in surprise to find someone else belonging to the shadow.

"I don't take kindly to being called dobe, especially by some new kid," the lump of a boy behind the voice told him menacingly.

"And I don't take too kindly to people blocking my sunlight," Sasuke said in an unthreatening tone that would have anyone who knew the Uchiha running for the hills.

"Well I don't take too kindly to your face!" the boy said, taking the intellectual high road.

"Well then how about you bugger off and solve all of our problems?" the Uchiha suggested pleasantly.

The boy stared at him for a moment while the words registered in his brain, suddenly it clicked.

"Why don't you come over here and say that?" the bigger boy threatened, unused to people talking back.

Sasuke stood up slowly and calmly brushed himself off and almost ambled over to the waiting ogre.

"I said, now pay attention because I'm only going to say this once more. Bugger off dobe," he said quite purposely.

The bigger boy got ready to launch his attack, Sasuke grinned as he prepared for the ineffectual blows. Naruto chose that moment to make his appearance.

"Hey Sasuke-teme," he said walking up with his head buried in his book, "What did you get for number eight?"

Both boys turned at the interruption, the lump glared at the blonde and made his escape, too many witnesses.

"You have terrible timing you know that?" Sasuke almost growled.

"What do you mean?" the asked confused.

"Never mind," the Uchiha said sitting down again.

OoOoO

"Hmm, looks like one of our boys is getting bored honey," Kakashi said leaning towards Iruka across the table which had conveniently emptied.

"I told you not to call me that! Especially at school! Besides I'm still not talking to you," he turned away fully intent on ignoring the jounin.

"I said I'm sorry love," the silver haired man said giving the brunette his best puppy dog eye.

"Don't call me that either, " he said blushing, "Anyway what did you mean?"

"Our little Uchiha almost got into a fight so I was thinking we might go camping this weekend," Kakashi suggested innocently.

OoOoO

"WHAT?" Sakura wailed, "I had plans and everything!"

"And when were you going to discuss them with us?" Iruka asked raising an eyebrow, "We are you legal guardians at the moment. Or were you planning to sneak out?"

The pink haired girl had the grace to blush at this.

Naruto shrugged, "I had plans but I can cancel. So why the sudden interest in camping?"

Sasuke looked surprised at the other boy's news but turned it into a sigh, "Are you really that blonde dobe? We haven't even been here a week and you've already forgotten about training?"

"Oh, right," Naruto laughed shrugging, "Maybe if I didn't have so much homework..."

The Uchiha snorted, "You haven't done any 'homework' since you got here. You've done it all at school along with the rest of your work."

The blonde frantically sent stop signals at the brunette boy to try and shut him up.

Iruka's eyes narrowed, "Why don't you two go and do your homework? I need to talk to Naruto."

The boy flinched, this could not be pretty.

Sasuke and Sakura started up the stairs despite the blonde's pleading looks. Sakura followed Sasuke into the boy's shared room and sat down on Naruto's bed.

"Hey Sasuke?" Sakura began, watching him remove his tie before he sat down.

"What?" he asked warily, remembering the last conversation they had started with those words.

The pink haired girl went bright red, "Do you mind, I mean, would it be alright if..."

"Sakura just say it," the boys said rubbing his temples.

"Ok but this is going to sound really weird," she took a deep breath, "Do you mind if I date other guys?"

One eyebrow shot up, "Is that really any of my business?"

"Well it's just that I always, you know. And I just wasn't sure if you'd mind if I sort of... moved on," Sakura explained tracing circles on the blanket.

"I have been waiting for you to 'move on' basically forever. Wouldn't Naruto be a better one to ask? He's the one who actually wanted to go out with you," the Uchiha said looking away.

"Well I don't think he'll be worried about that any time soon," she said ruefully, "I don't know how many propositions he's had since we got here but I think it's even more than me."

Sasuke froze, so that was why she was asking. She actually felt sorry for him. He ignored her as she kept prattling on about some of the things she'd seen and heard.

"He's even had some requests from other guys!" she laughed breaking him out of his bitterness.

"Has he accepted any?" Sasuke asked in a half strangled tone.

"From the guys or anyone?" Sakura asked raising an eyebrow with an odd look.

"Gee thanks bastard," the blonde growled storming into their room dumping his tie and everything else on the floor.

"I better go," Sakura said cringing as she left the room closing the door quietly behind her.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto shouted ignoring her, "I got my homework done didn't I?"

"Yeah by taking up my recess and lunch time," Sasuke said lying back on his bed closing his eyes.

"Like you had anything better to do," Naruto cringed and bit his lip as soon as the words left his mouth.

"Touché dobe, touché," the brunette said putting his arms under his head.

"What?" the blonde asked, he had been expecting some sort of attack or insult or something.

"Well I could say 'snap' or 'burn' but I won't bring either of us down to that level," the Uchiha said stretching and opening one eye.

Naruto blinked a few times and grabbed his books. Walking down the stairs he could be heard muttering, "I think I broke Sasuke."

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**So if you liked it please review! And if you didn't feel free to complain **


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay sorry it took a while but I have been unable to get to an internet connected computer unfortunately...**

**Anyway here is the next chapter enjoy**

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Sakura and Naruto spent the next day cancelling plans and complaining to anyone who would listen that their stupid teachers had decided to take them camping so they could "get to know each other". The generally held opinion was that the teachers felt sorry for Sasuke. He just spent the day glaring at everyone, even more than usual.

Naruto assured everyone he would still be available Friday night and was looking forward to hanging out.

Of course he had to drag Sasuke along with him, the Uchiha thought as he got changed out of his uniform. He considered being as daggy as possible but shrugged that off. If he was going to suffer he might as well do it in style. He changed into a pair of black jeans and button up short sleeved dark blue shirt. Casual yet stylish. As he walked out he bumped into Naruto in the hallway and almost gasped. He didn't know what he had been expecting, that stupid jumpsuit or something, but the dobe had actually gone for... well, hot. He was wearing a tight orange t-shirt that showed off his figure perfectly and jeans which were tight around the bum and loose around the legs. He was just drying his hair when he crashed into the brunette.

"Oh you're not going to have a shower before we go?" he asked throwing the towel back into the bathroom. He looked the Uchiha over who fought down a blush.

"Why?" Sasuke asked, "It's not like I've done anything all day."

"Huh," Naruto commented, "I thought you would have been the kind of guy who would enjoy that clean feeling when you're going somewhere.."

The brunette almost opened his mouth to say he was but realised it was a waste of time. The blonde was already bouncing down the stairs so he just shoved his hands in his pockets and followed.

The two boys walked down the street to where they were meeting the others, they had decided to meet outside the school so the two new students would know where to go.

Amaya, the girl who showed them around the first day seemed to have taken on the job of tour guide for the day. She pointed out all the good and bad hangouts and various other people's places until they finally reached their destination for the afternoon. The arcade.

Oh good, thought Sasuke, as if this wasn't a big enough headache already.

Naruto's eyes widened as they walked in, he couldn't wait to play all the games. He was pretty sure he could get Sasuke to verse him at at least one of the games, he just had to appeal to his competitive nature. But he would save that for later, right now the other boy had managed to find a table and sat down.

"I'll verse you at Zombie Crunch," Dan offered, "My shout but if you lose you have to pay for the second round."

"You're on!" Naruto accepted, the bastard could look after himself.

OoOoO

Sakura on the other hand was having a much quieter evening. Ryo had been the first one to ask her out so she thought it only fair to let him be the first to get a date. He was nice enough, opened the door for her, the perfect gentlemen. He also happened to be incredibly hot. He had wavy black hair that stopped a little above his shoulders and beautiful green eyes, his skin was almost as pale as you-know-who's and she could tell even under the school uniform that he had definite muscles. He was dressed in green which set his eyes off perfectly and she couldn't help but stare. She was sure she must be creeping him out but he just laughed and smiled.

"When you guys came everyone was asking if I was related to your friend," he laughed as if it were the funniest thing in the world.

"Sasuke," she said absently wondering how the others were going.

"What's his problem anyway?" Ryo asked seriously.

"He.." she trailed off and bit her lip, unsure whether she should be telling him about Sasuke's past. They wouldn't be able to trace them from his story alone, and chances were nobody would be looking for them, but really it was up to Sasuke whether he wanted everyone to know. But he was just so cute!

"I'll tell you but please don't tell anyone, I'm not sure that Sasuke wants it spread around, the reason he wanted to come here was to escape from the past."

"I promise I won't tell anyone," he smiled.

"Well when he was little Sasuke's whole family was killed…. By his brother. He's never gotten over it and still wants revenge on his brother who was never found," she explained softly glossing over some of the finer details.

The boy's eyes widened, obviously not what he had expected of the Uchiha, "Wow I never realised…. I mean that's horrible is he alright? Why doesn't he tell everyone? I'm sure they'd be a lot nicer to him if they knew."

"I think that might be why he doesn't want them to know. He wants people to like or hate him for him, rather than because they feel sorry for him. Back home he was sort of defined by his past, everyone felt sorry for him and treated him accordingly. All the girls wanted to be the one to marry him and continue his family," she said a little ruefully.

"Don't tell me you…" Ryo looked amused.

"It was the way we were brought up," Sakura shrugged, "Everyone wanted to be the one to do it. Coming here has opened my eyes, I can't see him like that anymore."

"I sort of thought you guys just must have felt sorry for him and that's why you hung around with him when he seemed so…you know," he admitted rubbing the back of his head.

"We've been friends for a long time," she smiled, "Well, not always friends, but we've been stuck together for a fair while. They just tend to grow on you."

"Yeah I can see that," Ryo smiled at her taking her hand over the table, "They really mean a lot to you don't they?"

Sakura turned bright red, "So do you," she whispered

OoOoO

Kakashi bustled around the table setting the table and lighting candles, he listened to Iruka taking his shower. He had volunteered to cook dinner while the young ones were out for the night, he had planned the perfect romantic dinner.

It was going to be so much fun, he thought removing his mask.

OoOoO

"Hi!" a girl with bright blue hair sat down across from Sasuke, "So what's your problem?"

He fixed her with a death glare, "At the moment? You."

"Ha ha very funny. No I mean what's wrong with you?"

"What the hell do you mean what's wrong with me?" Sasuke asked annoyed, "Do I look like I have a problem?"

She squinted at him, "Apart from the attitude problem, no. But why did your parents ship you off to live with teachers if there's nothing wrong with you?"

"My parents are dead," the Uchiha said in an emotionless tone.

"I'm sorry, but why aren't you living with the rest of your family?" she asked sympathetically, "You didn't kill your parents did you?" she joked.

"No my brother did. He murdered my entire family," Sasuke seethed.

Her eyes widened, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I was just joking I didn't mean to... My friend just wanted me to ask you out!"

She gestured over to another table where a girl lowered her head and blushed.

"Sorry I'm not interested," the blue haired girl's face fell, "Uh but... say thanks, I'm not allowed to at the moment." Sasuke added in a moment of weakness.

"Can I just ask you one more thing?" the girl asked hesitantly.

He sighed, "Fine what is it now?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but are you gay?" she rushed on when she saw his face, "I mean I just kinda get that vibe from you. I'm not trying to imply anything, although your blonde is kinda cute."

"No I'm not. And he's not my blonde!" Sasuke added quickly.

She smirked, "If he's not then how did you know who I was talking about?"

She mimed zipping her mouth shut, "Don't worry your secret's safe with me." She sauntered back over to her table and broke the news to her friend. The girl looked over and smiled hesitantly, Sasuke smiled back sympathetically and added a little shrug in for good measure.

"Wow is that an actual smile from the ice prince?" Naruto exclaimed as he dropped into the recently vacated seat, "Are you actually beginning to thaw?" he held his hands out toward Sasuke as if he were a fire.

The Uchiha smothered a laugh, "My smirk is in the shop so I tried this one on. Does it fit?" he grinned stupidly.

Naruto shuddered, "Fit? Yes. Suit? No! Hell no even!"

Sasuke returned to his regular smirk, "Well what do you know? It's back, just wait'll I get the bill though."

The blonde looked at him strangely and he smothered another laugh.

"So who was that you were talking to?" Naruto asked, unable to control his curiosity any longer.

The brunette shrugged, "Just some girl."

"Didn't you even ask her name?" the blonde boy asked exasperated.

"Why? She was just asking me out for her friend," Sasuke sat back and took a sip from his drink.

"Ah there you are studmuffin. I knew they couldn't resist you for too much longer. You're just too loveable you know that?" he told him grinning.

The Uchiha glared at him then slowly leaned over and patted the other boy's leg, "Good to know dobe. Good to know."

Naruto's face was priceless, Sasuke laughed and stood up, "Now which one of these stupid games am I going to crush you at?"

* * *

**Well I hope you enjoyed it. Updates will be a bit slow over the next week or so as I have many assignments which need doing TT**

**Also reviews are good I like reviews... you know if you write them and stuff... they make me happy :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Phew! You guys are making me neglect my studies! (Like that takes much work ;) Anyway I rushed it so please excuse any errors :D **

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Naruto studied Sasuke as the boy crushed him again at some ninja game they had discovered, the pictures alone had been enough to set the both off laughing. Sasuke Uchiha had laughed. Sure it had been more restrained than Naruto's but there had definitely been laughter. What was happening? First the brunette had basically congratulated the blonde for insulting him and then he.. had he actually hit on him? Damn confusing bastard.

"Hey dobe! Pay attention when I'm destroying you! It's no fun if you're not trying," Sasuke declared stepping away from the machine.

Naruto kept pushing buttons for a full minute before the brunette shook him.

"Oi Naruto, you in there?" he asked, his grin fading.

"Huh?" the boy replied startled, "Oh sorry, I was just thinking."

"Knew I could smell burning," Sasuke murmured.

The blonde gave him a dirty look, "Come on bastard we'd better go get some dinner. We'll meet you guys at the movies ok?"

"Righto see you there. Eight o'clock don't forget!" Amaya reminded them winking.

Naruto felt a blush and fought it down as he waved to the others. They walked down to the little café Amaya had pointed out to them and Naruto chose a table out in the open. The blonde didn't think he would try anything but he wanted to be sure.

Sasuke struggled not to laugh as he watched the emotions play across the blonde's face. This was so much more fun than fighting him, why hadn't he worked this out years ago?

Time to put him out of his misery.

"Hey dobe, you going to order or what?" the brunette asked glaring pointedly at the hovering waitress.

"Oh uh miso ramen thank you," Naruto said distractedly examining the apparently normal Uchiha.

The waitress walked back over to the kitchen.

"Can I go home yet?" Sasuke asked in an annoyed tone.

Naruto relaxed a little, "I told Kakashi we wouldn't be back until about ten. After the movie."

The Uchiha sighed, "And what rubbishy teen movie are we going to see? Did that girl choose some corny romantic slop?"

Naruto's brow twitched, "Her name is Amaya and we took a group vote. We're seeing a comedy."

"Oh good," Sasuke glared out the window while the other boy wondered if he had finally lost it.

OoOoO

Sakura and Ryo finished their dinner and walked to the cinema to see the latest slasher flick. Ryo had picked it especially but he wasn't at all prepared for her reaction.

"That's ridiculous," she whispered as they watched blood spurting from a wound, "There's no way a wound like that could cause that much blood."

"Huh?" Ryo asked gulping as he tuned his head quite pointedly to the side, this was not how it was meant to go.

"It's just a flesh wound, if Naruto lost that much blood every time he got a cut like that he'd be dead by now," she laughed as another guy suffered a highly impossible injury. She realised what she'd just said and inwardly cursed herself.

"What do you mean? What happened to Naruto?" Ryo asked cautiously.

"Umm he's just very adventurous and has a tendency to get hurt when he's too hasty. He never thinks things through, particularly when he and Sasuke fight, they don't hold back," she explained hoping that sounded normal enough.

But Ryo still looked aghast, "They hurt each other like that?"

"Uh their relationship is complicated, they don't mean to…" Sakura realised a way to head off the following questions that were sure to follow, "Speaking of relationships." She leaned over and put her hand behind his head and pulled him forward until their lips met.

When they finally pulled away he looked dazed, "Did you want to sneak into the romantic movie?"

OoOoO

Kakashi heard the door open upstairs and carefully laid his mask on the bench and sat down waiting. Iruka walked down the stairs stretching as he went. He stopped dead when he saw the table and the man sitting behind it.

He didn't seem to know what to do so Kakashi stood up and guided him to the seat and sat him down before returning to his seat.

"Kakashi your face…" he looked around until he saw the mask, "What are you…"

"I can't keep this up for the whole time we're here," he explained, "And I wanted you to be the first to see… all of me."

Iruka saw his smile for the first time ever, even in bed he had worn the mask, sometimes only the mask, this was something new. Kakashi's smile faltered as there was no reply. The brunette rose and walked around the table kneeling beside the jounin who turned to face him. He slowly reached up and, like child, traced his fingers over his nose, cheeks and finally his lips. His hand dropped as he started some more. Iruka hesitantly bit his lip and looked into the other man's eyes. Kakashi slowly leaned forward and kissed him softly. The brunette turned bright red and he broke the contact and looked away.

"Kakashi I don't know if…" Iruka stumbled.

"Dinner's ready," he said standing up and taking something out of the oven, "I hope you like roast."

OoOoO

Neither boy talked much during their dinner, Sasuke glared and Naruto tried not to look at him too much. They walked silently to the movies, the Uchiha seemed to walking mighty close in Naruto's opinion but every time he would move away a little the brunette would subtly close the gap. Eventually the blonde decided just to let it be. They met the others outside the cinema, bought their tickets and walked in. Sasuke sat right at the end of the row in the very back corner, and Naruto, against his better judgement sat next to him. Amaya quickly claimed the seat next to Naruto and the others sat down where they were Amaya talked animatedly until the lights went down, leaning closer to Naruto during the scary previews. Sasuke turned his glare on full power, she was fawning all over him, how could that no be annoying? It was like Sakura all over again, except this time he had to watch. The Uchiha barely noticed the movie, she was sickening acting like that all over his Naruto. Wait, had he just called him HIS Naruto? That couldn't be right. He went back over his thoughts. Yep there had definitely been a his in there.

He stood up to leave.

"Sasuke-teme where are you going?" Naruto asked confused, "The movie's not over yet…"

"I feel sick," Sasuke answered honestly. He walked out into the lobby and sat down. This wasn't how things were supposed to go, sure it was fun to tease him and fight with him and pick on him all the time, but he wasn't HIS. They were best friends, sort of, or they used to be anyway. There had to be a way to work this out. He stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out, strolling casually down the street as his thoughts raced.

Amaya leaned over to Naruto and put her hand on his leg, he almost jumped.

"What's wrong Naruto?" she asked confused.

"I'm just worried, what's taking Sasuke so long. I'd better go see where he is," Naruto said worriedly.

"But you'll miss the ending, don't you want to know what happens?" she asked invitingly.

But Naruto was oblivious, "It's almost finished, you can explain it all to me later."

He stood up and walked out. He went and checked the boys toilets but they were all empty. He searched around the lobby but Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

"Hey dobe, is it over already?" Sasuke asked surprised as he walked back into the cinemas with an ice-cream.

"You bastard! I was worried about you! Where have you been? I thought you said you were feeling sick," Naruto ranted.

The Uchiha was taken aback, "I was but I went for a walk and now I am feeling much better so I thought I'd grab an ice-cream before we have to head home. It's not like I was paying attention to the movie anyway…"

"That is completely beside the point!"

"Which is?" Sasuke asked slowly.

"I-I was worried I thought you had passed out or something! You could have at least come in and told me where you were going," Naruto said, wounded.

"Here comes your girlfriend," the brunette said quietly.

"She's not my girlfriend!" the blonde said turning red.

"Well that's what it looked like, anyway looks like the movie's over. Time to go home," Sasuke said walking outside with his ice-cream.

"We have to go or Kakashi will kill us," Naruto told the group smiling, "and we have to be up early tomorrow."

"Ouch," Dan said sympathetically.

"Yeah well, anyway I'll see you guys on Monday alright?" he added.

"Righto see you then," Amaya smiled a little disappointedly.

Naruto jogged after the Uchiha.

"And for making me worry," he swiped his ice-cream and licked it, "This is mine now."

"You know I've licked that right?" Sasuke said calmly.

"Yup," Naruto said taking another lick.

* * *

**Well I hope you enjoyed it. And remember reviews make me update quicker XD (Bribery much?)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Phew! This chapter was the hardest to write. I just couldn't get it to a decent length and was considering just posting it at about 600 words but I persisted and here it is (I mainly just like the beginning ;p)**

* * *

Everyone was in bed by the time the time the two boys tiptoed up the stairs. They quietly changed (Naruto in the bathroom and Sasuke in the bedroom : P) The Uchiha calmly sat on his bed in his boxer shorts, Naruto walked in and turned bright red at the sight of the brunette's bare chest and stomach.

"If you weren't ready you should have said something," the blonde stammered turning around.

"I am ready, this is how I always sleep. If I'm going to be stuck here a while I'm not going to keep pretending otherwise," he laid back and put his arms behind his head, clearly showing off his biceps and every other muscle in his upper body.

Naruto gulped and turned the light off, lying down before he did something he shouldn't.

OoOoO

The light was on. Naruto looked around blearily and saw Sasuke standing at the door.

"Hey bastard what's the big idea?" he asked. Unseen by him the Uchiha smiled slightly and walked out the door.

"What the hell are you doing? I'm talking to you!" the blonde followed him down and the hall, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sasuke poured himself a glass of water and turned around to Naruto his eyes still closed.

"Holy crap! Are you sleepwalking? Hey Sasuke-teme, wake up! Oh wait you're not supposed to do that. Oh crap what are you supposed to do?" the blonde wondered frantically. When the Uchiha started back up the stairs he settled for just following him. They walked back up the stairs and back into their bedroom where Sasuke promptly climbed into the blonde's bed and continued to sleep peacefully while Naruto freaked out.

'Should I just take his bed or sleep on the floor? It is my bed maybe I should just join him,' One thought suggested and he blushed at the mental image. Finally he just laid down on Sasuke's bed and was soon fast asleep.

The brunette opened one eye and watched him for a second before joining him.

That was for the snoring.

OoOoO

Iruka opened the boy's door to wake them but the words stuck in his throat. He tiptoed back to his room.

"Kakashi come look."

Kakashi picked his mask up.

"You're putting it back on?" Iruka asked disappointedly.

He gave him a quick kiss and pulled the mask on, "Just while we're camping I promise."

They tiptoed back to the boy's room, Iruka couldn't help himself, he let out a little "Awww."

Both boys were lying on their sides and Naruto had the brunette in a bear hug with his head resting on the other boy's shoulder, their cheeks touching.

"Looks like our little boys are growing up," Kakashi whispered wrapping his arms around Iruka's waist.

The brunette gave him a kiss on the forehead, "You go have breakfast quickly while I wake them all up."

He pulled the door closed behind him and woke Sakura up instead before pounding on their door, "Boys! Breakfast time!"

OoOoO

Sasuke woke after the best sleep he could remember having for a very long time. He felt the warmth up his back and the strong arms under his own and snuggled back into them with a chuckle.

"Morning Naru-kins would you like to let go of me now?" he whispered softly in the blonde's ear.

Naruto rolled over and somehow ended up on top of the Uchiha who blushed bright red.

"Don't make me come in there!" Iruka threatened pounding on the door again.

Sasuke waited for the footsteps to leave before, "Naruto what the hell are you doing in my bed?"

He shook the other boy who buried his head in the brunette's chest.

"Don' wanna," he snuggled down further.

The Uchiha looked down at him, resisting the urge to stroke the top of his head, he was just too cute.

Wait, had he just thought that? He groaned, this was not how things were meant to go.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he sprang to his feet blushing furiously.

Sasuke sat up and looked at him, "You know if you were cold you could have just said something."

The blonde made a strangled noise, "No you were, and then I…. and you were…. So I…."

"Well when you put it like that," Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"You weren't there so I.."

"Naruto I've been in my bed all night. Apparently so have you…"

The door burst open and Kakashi strolled in with a jug of water. He pouted when he saw them awake.

"And here I thought I was supposed to wake you up," he said his single visible eye twinkling, "Oh well wouldn't want it to go to waste."

He tipped the jug of water over the standing blonde and Sasuke burst out laughing at Naruto's face. The jounin raised an eyebrow and left.

Naruto glared at Sasuke and stomped into the bathroom.

So far his day was going great. First he had apparently woken up on top of the Uchiha which he was sure he'd never live down. He hadn't been there when he went to bed and Sasuke obviously didn't remember sleep walking so there was no real way to explain it to the Uchiha that he would believe. Maybe he should say he sleepwalked and ended up in bed with the brunette, or go with being cold… Or maybe he could just pretend it never happened…

OoOoO

Sasuke's day was going great.

He had had great sleep, gotten his best friend back for his snoring, if he wasn't paranoid of the brunette now he never would be, and then to top it all off Kakashi had decided to drench Naruto too. Yup, good day all around.

There were some weird feelings running around his head but he was going to ignore them for the moment and enjoy the good fortune while it lasted. He found himself whistling as he made his way downstairs.

"You're in a good mood this morning," Iruka observed raising an eyebrow.

"Kakashi just drenched Naruto," the Uchiha informed him smirking, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"He didn't!" Iruka stomped up the stairs in search of the silver haired jounin.

Sasuke chuckled, he felt sorry for the man when the brunette finally caught up with him.

"So how was your night?" Sakura asked almost bursting.

"Eh, alright," the Uchiha shrugged, he knew what she was really after, "How was your night?"

"It was incredible!" she exploded, "He looked so hot! And he took me out to..."

And that was where Sasuke tuned out. She had been talking for a solid five minutes before Naruto stomped down the stairs. He flopped into one of the chairs and glared at Sasuke, "I hate you so much right now."

"Is that so?" the Uchiha asked raising an eyebrow, the blonde blushed and the brunette made his way up the stairs triumphantly.

"So how was your night?" Sakura asked sympathetically.

"It was... interesting," Naruto told her reluctantly, "I crushed Dan at the arcade and the Sasuke-teme beat me at this funny ninja game. And then we went to the movies and the bastard was all anti-social and walked out early so I stole his ice-cream."

"What about Amaya?" Sakura asked pointedly.

"Yeah she was there," the blonde answered, confused at the new direction the conversation was taking.

"And?" she prompted.

"She wasn't very happy when I left the movie early," he admitted, "Sasuke told me he was sick and didn't come back. I got worried." he added defensively.

Sakura groaned inwardly, was he really that dense? She decided to just plunge right in.

"You know she likes you right?"

He went bright red, "Well yeah... she's really nice, and a good friend..."

Sakura cringed inwardly for the girl at the word friend.

"So did you have a good night Naruto?" Iruka asked coming down the stairs with a satisfied look on his face.

"Yeah, I did," he replied grinning, "I can't wait til next Friday."

"What aren't you looking forward to training?" the older man teased lightly.

"Well yeah," he smiled, "Its just fun getting to do all this kinda stuff. I mean I can train anytime, although I am looking forward to beating the crap out of Sasuke-teme."

"Dream on Uzimaki," he said coming back downstairs in a pair of old jeans and a blue flannelette shirt, his hair still wet.

Naruto found himself blushing for some unknown reason, he decided to go on the attack.

"Why are you dressed stupidly for bastard? We're training not farming."

"No we're camping dobe," the brunette rolled his eyes at the blonde, "You're not very good at this whole undercover thing are you?"

Naruto opened his mouth ready to retort but Kakashi appeared.

"Sakura and Naruto go get dressed, Sasuke you can help me pack," he ordered carrying some of the camping gear over his shoulders.

Naruto stormed upstairs and Iruka followed him quietly.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Iruka asked softly startling the boy.

"I don't know," he said slamming the cupboard, "I just don't know but everything he does just... aaarggh!"

"Are you two fighting?" the brunette asked him sitting down on Sasuke's bed, Naruto blushed.

"Yes... no... oh I don't know. It's just hard," he said plaintively, "On the one hand I'm trying to fit in with this new school and everything but I can't because there's still that difference and I can't tell anyone about. And I can't escape it because I have a job to do and you guys are here with me. And its confusing...and I don't like lying..."

The older man stood up and hugged the boy, "I'm sorry I didn't realise how difficult this is for you," he murmured.

The blonde pulled away, "It's not really that. I have accepted that its just he's acting all weird and I don't understand."

Iruka hid a smile, "You guys have to work these things out for yourselves. But don't forget I'm here if you need to talk okay?"

"Yeah right, thanks Iruka," Naruto smiled, "Now get the hell out so I can get changed!"

OoOoO

"What the hell do you mean we're all sharing a tent?" Sasuke asked his eyebrow twitching.

"Well it's not like we have a lot of money and we can't put Sakura in the same tent as two teenage boys, that would just be irresponsible. As her guardians we have particular responsibilities," the jounin said loftily, "And we could only really afford two tents so the four of us are going to have to share."

"I hate you," the Uchiha sighed.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it And reviews are much appreciated** **especially in this time of writer's block.**

**sigh oh and thank for all the attempts to bribe me. I swear I am never giving myself a deadline ever again ;**


	10. Chapter 10

**Phew! And to think I thought being on holidays would make this easier to update sooner! In case you can't tell I failed at that. Anyway here is the much (not actually) awaited next installment! Enjoy!**

* * *

They hiked deep into the woods in the surrounding mountains. Sakura and Iruka set up the tents; Sasuke collected the firewood while Naruto cleared a space for the fire. Kakashi disappeared as soon as there was work to be done, conveniently ditching his pack in case they needed anything out of it (although considering what it contained that was highly unlikely).

"Here's the firewood," Sasuke called as he piled it next to a tree.

"What do you want a medal or a chest to pin it on?" Naruto mumbled.

"Actually I quite like my chest how it is," as he got closer to the other boy he whispered, "And you seemed quite happy with it too."

"Why don't you boys go off and train together?" Iruka suggested mildly looking at Naruto's face, "You sound like you could use it."

"Why bother? It's not like he could ever beat me," the Uchiha smirked.

"Alright bastard! Come on. Right now," Naruto crouched into a fighting stance.

"Fine," the brunette shrugged launching himself at the blonde.

Kakashi reappeared holding both of them around the necks.

"Maybe you would prefer to move off into the woods where your ridiculous rivalry won't affect the rest of us," he suggested pleasantly, releasing them.

The boys both glared at him then, as one, they moved into the woods and stopped in the first clearing they found.

Sasuke laughed, "This is ridiculous. There's no way you can beat me dobe and you know it. Why don't you just give up?"

"I'm not going to lose to you bastard," Naruto growled.

"Yeah good luck with that," the brunette snorted, "Tell you what, to make it more even I'll let you get one blow in before I fight back. You'd better make it a good one because I am going to pound you."

He stood there smirking. Smug bastard, if only I could get him off balance Naruto thought.

He had a wicked idea.

Naruto walked slowly up to the Uchiha and stood directly in front of him. He reached forward and the brunette flinched.

"Nu-uh you promised," he reminded cheekily.

"Fine hurry up and attack so I can punch you," he glared.

"If you insist," Naruto shrugged innocently. His heart jumped in his chest. In one fluid motion he leaned forward and grabbed either side of his rival's face and pulled their lips together.

He felt rather than heard the growl emitting from the brunette. Naruto tensed expecting the blow. Instead however he felt the other boys tongue probing at his lips. His eyes widened as he let the questing organ explore his mouth. He became aware of the hands on his back and in his hair. The blonde let his own hands slide down to rest on Sasuke's chest.

There was a sound and the boys pulled apart panting, their eyes wide. A small rabbit jumped into the clearing and they both laughed, more to break the tension than anything else.

"Shit I thought it was Kakashi," Naruto panted.

"Me too," Sasuke laughed weakly.

They both sat down with their backs against a tree.

"Sasuke," Naruto began hesitantly.

"Hn," he said, reverting to his standard reply.

"What... what was that?" the blonde asked softly staring down at his hands.

The Uchiha blinked. Had he actually just asked that? He grinned, should he?

Well ask a stupid question...

"Something quite similar to this," he replied roughly grabbing the blonde's chin and pulling their lips together once more. He probed once more but this time the other mouth remained closed to him.

He pulled away, "Sasuke please. What is it here that I don't get?"

The brunette sighed, "Please don't complicate things dobe."

"Complicate things? You're a freakin' one man circus! You insult me, annoy me, mess with me, hit on me and now this! I don't understand you!" Naruto ranted clenching his fists, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

Sasuke leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Me neither," he whispered walking nonchalantly back to the others.

OoOoO

"And there's a whole line up and I don't know whether I should be going all Mary Poppins on them and, you know, 'the position has been filled' or see what the others are like. I mean should I stay with him just because he was the first to ask me out? I don't know the other guys, they might all be really nice," Sakura sighed.

"Sakura, do you like this guy?" Iruka asked.

She blushed, "Well, yeah..."

"Then you can't just leave him hanging on a waiting list. Go out with him again and if it doesn't work out then you can pick up where you left off," Iruka said patiently.

"Things are so complicated when you're as desirable as I am," she sighed again.

"Oh dahling I know!" Naruto exclaimed outrageously as he re-entered the clearing, "As if I didn't have enough to worry about fighting off other ninja! Now I have to fight off all the fan girls too. And fan boys."

Iruka's eyebrow shot up, "You have fan boys?"

"A few," he chuckled, his eyes locking with Sasuke's rolling eyes.

"But I didn't think you were interested in guys," Sakura commented.

"Dahling dahling! Can't I just enjoy the attention?"

"You might as well," Sasuke said casually yet purposefully, "After all, we won't be here forever."

The silence was deafening. However it is interesting to note the different reactions of the people gathered around the fire.

Sakura was devastated when she remembered their temporariness. She immediately made up her mind to spend as much time with Ryo as she possibly could.

The realisation hit Iruka like a bus. This was only temporary. As soon as they returned he would barely ever see Kakashi again, it was a sad fact that was just the way the man was. He had to stop this while he still could, before he got in too deep to get out without destroying himself.

Naruto was the least concerned about the whole thing, he wondered whether Iruka had packed any ramen and couldn't wait to get back to Ichiraku's, although the ramen from the night before had been pretty good too. And there were a few other places in town to try before they left. And of course when they got back he wouldn't have to share a room anymore. And maybe Sasuke would go back to being a remote ice prince rather than... wait was that actually a good thing?

Naruto was brought back to reality by a pressure on his knees. He shook his head and realised there was a face right in front of his.

"I said, dobe are you coming to get water with me?" Sasuke repeated tilting his head right in front of Naruto's. He could smell him. It was a nice smell he thought.

"Dobe! Can you please stop checking me out and grab the other pot?" Sasuke chuckled when he realised his shirt was gaping open and the other boy was blushing furiously.

The Uchiha ran in the direction of the river before the other boy realised what he had said.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled leaping to his feet, "I was not checking you out!"

He chased after the laughing boy; they both weaved between the trees and barely noticed when they burst out of the trees finally.

Unfortunately, where the trees ended so did the bank.

Sasuke stopped right at the edge of the trees trying to regain his balance but Naruto tackled him sending them both into the water which was thankfully deep enough for neither of them to get hurt. The brunette pulled a few strokes (swimming, minds out of the gutter) to grab onto the pot before it was carried too far away. Naruto realised what he was doing and duck dived under to find his. When he resurfaced Sasuke laughed.

"What?" the blonde asked huffily.

"Would you like to go for a swim?" he smiled almost gently, "We might as well while we're here."

Another few strokes and he was at the bank. He put the pot up on the bank and lifted himself out. Sasuke took his shirt off and hung it over a tree and took off his shoes, socks and jeans also placing them in the tree. He walked back to the water in his boxer shorts and dived in.

Naruto watched for a second and then copied him.

"You know the sun won't dry them right?" the blonde asked lying on his back in the water.

"I know dobe but they'll get drier than they would if I was still wearing them," he commented pulling himself over next to the boy and wrapped his arms around his waist, shivering slightly at the touch of his skin on his stomach. It never ceased to amaze him the little thrill he got at the slightest touch.

Naruto decided just to give up for the moment and relaxed backwards into the other boys arms he placed his hands on top of Sasuke's, moving his head to the side until it was resting on his shoulder.

"We should go back soon. The others will be wondering what's keeping us," Naruto said lazily closing his eyes.

"And you don't want them to find us like this?" the brunette surmised nuzzling the other boy's cheek.

"Not really," the blonde replied reluctantly, _I don't want them to know anything until you make up your damn mind!_

He slowly released the other boy and ducked under the water before swimming to the edge and climbing out. Sasuke got dressed again into his slightly drier clothes and put his shoes on. Naruto still lazily floated around.

The Uchiha grinned and grabbed his pot and grabbed all of the other boy's clothes.

"Well I'll see you back at camp," he said casually making his way back towards the clearing.

"Hang on I'll just be a sec," Naruto swam over to the side and climbed out.

"SASUKE!" He bellowed. The Uchiha grinned and ran.

* * *

**Yes I know Sasuke is being a bit of a bastard. I'm sure Naruto will get him back somehow... maybe.**

**Anyway I love reviews and I read all of them and pay attention to any advice that is written so please feel free to review, not like you have to or anything... how's the reverse psychology working on you?**

**I hope you enjoyed it!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Phew! Sorry this one took so long! I hope you all enjoy it anyway. Life has been so busy lately, damn musical! Oh well...**

* * *

Naruto was still ignoring Sasuke.

He hadn't even acknowledged him since he'd gotten his clothes back. They sat on opposite sides of the fire.

Sasuke was staring at the blonde who was cheerfully chatting with Iruka and Sakura, Kakashi was attempting to read his book by firelight. This meant Sasuke had time to do his least favourite activity of late, thinking. He just couldn't get the moron out of his head. In a place where everything else had changed their relationship had become oddly... comforting. Of course stealing his clothes and climbing into bed with him probably weren't the best way of showing his appreciation; but it was so much fun! His expressions were just too cute. Obviously he didn't like hurting him but... things were difficult. After it's not like Sasuke Uchiha could be gay.

Sasuke's eyes widened, had he even just considered that?

He slapped his forehead earning odd looks from everyone but Naruto who was still seemingly oblivious to his existence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kakashi asked softly.

"There's nothing to talk about," Sasuke growled, "It's not gonna happen and that's all there is to it!"

"Are you sure about that?" the jounin asked raising an eyebrow, "It looks like something is already happening. You've been staring at him ignoring you all afternoon."

"I have not," the Uchiha muttered, denying access to the blush that threatened to engulf his face.

"Fine whatever you say," Kakashi shrugged, "After all he's _your_ boyfriend."

Sasuke tore the book from the man's hand, his sharingan activating automatically. "He's not my boyfriend," he said in a low dangerous tone.

"You'd better not have lost my page. I was just getting to the excellent part," Kakashi commented lazily. The brunette threw the book at him and glared into the fire.

"Moody bastard," the jounin muttered.

"I'm going to find some more wood," Sasuke said darkly as he left the clearing. Naruto visibly relaxed and let out a sigh, poking the fire with a stick. Iruka and Sakura exchanged glances. Should they be getting involved?

"Naruto can I talk to you for a second?" Iruka finally asked standing up.

The blonde sighed and followed him, they sat up in a nearby tree.

"Naruto what's wrong?" Iruka asked worriedly, looking their gazes.

"Why does something have to be wrong?" Naruto evaded, blushing.

"You've been ignoring him all afternoon," the teacher reminded him.

"And you've been avoiding Kakashi-sensei," the blonde replied somewhat smugly.

"Touché."

The reply startled Naruto and he almost fell out of the tree.

'_Touché dobe, touché.'_

"Arrgghh! Why does everything come back to him?" Naruto almost wailed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Iruka asked gently.

"What, so he can be a moody bastard with problems but I can't? Why does everybody want to talk about everything? I'm so sick of all of you!" Naruto exploded.

The older man pulled back as if the words had been a physical blow.

"You don't have to talk Naruto. You just seemed out of sorts that's all..." he trailed off softly and slid down out of the tree, "But if you don't want to talk that's fine too."

"Iruka wait! I'm sorry I just... I can't think right now. Give me time to think things through first," the blonde explained from his seat in the tree. He couldn't physically follow and apologise at the moment, he had enough trouble apologising verbally. He ignored the overtures of peace and stayed where he was. His whole body was shaking and he had no idea why.

OoOoO

The ferocity of the outburst surprised Sasuke. The Uchiha had watched the event from nearby. As far as he knew the blonde had never spoken anything like that towards his father figure in his whole life. He felt incredibly bad knowing it was all over him but there really wasn't anything to be done about it. Unless of course he returned to how he always used to act. That could be the only real answer. His newfound sense of fun seemed to confuse everybody and his emotions only caused trouble. If he could manage to pretend he was the same ice prince they were all used to the others could return to a normal life where Naruto would never hurt Iruka like that ever again. And Sasuke would not have to deal with his new found emotions.

But spending the night in the tent together would test him.

He groaned, why did the perfect opportunity have to come up just as he decided to be a good boy? Hopefully they wouldn't have to sleep next to each other, there was only so much he could take. After all he's only human.

OoOoO

Luckily for Sasuke it was not to be.

"Ok we'll draw straws for duties, I have marked each one with a job to do. No cheating any of you!" Iruka told them.

They each picked a stick out of his hands and looked at it.

"Mine has a one on it," Sakura said.

"That means you have the first watch tonight, I've got the third watch, who has the second?" Iruka asked them looking around.

"I do," Sasuke said softly holding up his stick.

"Mine has a b on it, what does that mean?" Naruto asked him.

"That means you are on breakfast duty which must mean Kakashi is cleaning up after breakfast," Iruka explained cheerfully, "Now we'd better all get to bed. I'll have to sleep at one edge so I won't wake anyone when I have to go on watch, Sasuke you sleep on the other edge and Naruto you sleep next to me so I can wake you up for breakfast."

Both of the boys relaxed visibly at the turn of events.

"Well I'm going to go to sleep," Naruto said, stretching rather theatrically, "Good night everyone."

The blonde walked over to the tent and climbed inside, closing the fly screen behind him.

"I might turn in too," Iruka said, "I'd better get some sleep before my watch, and so should you Sasuke."

The teacher followed Naruto into the tent leaving the other three outside.

Kakashi sighed and walked around to the other end of the tent and went inside.

"Sasuke," Sakura whispered gesturing the boy over. She waited until he was close before she said, "You won't hurt him will you?"

The Uchiha looked surprised, "What do you mean?"

She stared down, "He's not as tough as he seems and I just don't want to see him hurt. He's my friend too you know."

"What the hell are you talking about?" the brunette asked flatly.

"I've seen the way you look at each other. And how you react to one another and I'm glad but I don't want to see him hurt. He's had enough of that," she smiled a small smile at him, "Don't get me wrong I don't want to see you hurt either…"

"I don't think you need to worry about that," he told her stiffly. He walked off to the other end of the tent. He stopped and looked back, "Thank you for you concern though," he said formally and ducked into the tent. She smiled.

OoOoO

The night passed peacefully and they made their way home silently. The tension was almost a sixth member of their little party. Sakura was forced to watch them all ignore each other and sighed. This was not as much fun as she had expected.

Sasuke glared at the world and said nothing, ignoring all of them.

Kakashi had tried to manoeuvre his way closer to Iruka but the other man had avoided him on every attempt until he had somewhat sadly given up on it.

Iruka stayed as far away from Kakashi as he possibly could, he stayed between Naruto and Sakura and every once in a while said something cheerful sounding to them.

Naruto was in his own little world. The Uchiha had been ignoring him, even after the blonde had ceased to ignore him. He was sick of the silence but didn't really want to say anything. He didn't know how to start with Iruka and Sakura seemed hesitant to bring anything up. So he walked. In silence.

OoOoO

Sasuke opened his locker, he had no idea how he was going to avoid Naruto all day. They had way too many classes together. He sighed inwardly. This was where some other friends would have come in handy.

"You know, purple is the colour of sexual frustration," a voice observed from behind him.

"I know that annoying voice from somewhere," Sasuke said glaring, "And not just my nightmares either."

"Hello to you too," the blue haired girl smiled, "I didn't introduce myself last time. After all I figured what was the point seeing as I already knew your name. But I suppose you need a name to put with the nightmares."

Sasuke chuckled and she offered her hand, "I'm Nico."

"Sasuke," he said taking her hand, "At least now I'll know what to put on the headstone in my nightmares. You're less annoying without a head."

"So I've been told," she said wryly.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! If you want to have an effect on the story then please review! I always read reviews and I always reply! If you want to know anything then review and let me know!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Well here is the next chapter. It might be a while before I update either of my stories again as my computer and modem were both fried in a storm and I can only use the net at school for a while and I'm not really comfortable with uploading at school ;**

**Anyway enjoy!**

* * *

Sasuke and Nico traded insults through their morning classes.

"How did I not notice you in so many of my classes before?" Sasuke groaned.

"It's the hair. I only dyed it Friday," the girl shrugged. The bell rang and they made their way into the hall.

"C'mon I'll show 'round," she pulled his arm.

"Amaya already showed us around," Sasuke shuddered.

"Little miss tutu may have showed you the school but I'll show you The School."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, "And how exactly is that different?"

"Didn't you hear the difference?" the blue haired girl asked, "One has capitals."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Oh of course I heard the capitals."

"Good now come on let's go Sas-gay," she pulled him along.

"Stop calling me that! I'm not freaking gay!" the brunette growled.

"Of course you are," he glared at her, "But I suppose I could use a different nickname if you really want me to Sassy."

"I really do hate you," he sighed.

"Love you too Sas," she replied cheerfully pulling him down the hall into an area he had never seen before.

"This is the interesting part of the school," she told him pointing to the different workshops and other specialty classrooms, "You might be interested in the dojo. Anyone can train there."

"What? But how did you…" he stammered.

"Please! I can tell from the way you move," she smirked, "You're either a fighter or a dancer and I can't see you in pink. Although…."

He glared, "You are a moron. Wait does that mean that you fight too?"

"A little," she shrugged, "With three older brothers you have to be able to defend yourself in a combat situation and kicking their arses helps to persuade them not to do it again. Plus its kinda fun."

"Hmm maybe we should spar some time…" he thought out loud.

"And of course I'll bet you want to join the drama club too," she said indicating a door as she started running, laughing as he twigged to what she had said.

"I'M NOT BLOODY HOMOSEXUAL!" he shouted chasing her.

OoOoO

"Hey Naruto, why isn't Sasuke eating with us today?" Amaya asked curiously looking around to where the Uchiha sat with Nico, "He's sitting with that stupid gay loser."

"What did you call him?" Naruto asked angrily.

Amaya pulled back, "I didn't call him anything. I was talking about the girl he's sitting with. Everyone says she's gay."

"So?" Naruto said sadly, "You can't always believe everything people say…"

"I was just curious why you guys weren't sitting together today," she said in a small voice.

He smiled at her, "I'm sorry I just hate rumours, you shouldn't be like that about people trust me I know what its like."

"Hey guys," Sakura said brightly sitting down opposite Naruto, "Looks like Sasuke finally made a friend!"

"Yeah looks like it," the blonde said smiling, _Maybe now he'll leave me alone._

OoOoO_  
_

"Why don't we sit with your friends?" Nico asked uncomfortably.

"Because she's there," Sasuke glowered.

"Oooh you're so cute when you're jealous," she laughed.

He raised an eyebrow, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh come on! There she is hogging your blonde. Why don't you just go jump him and let him know how you feel?" she said innocently.

He rolled his eyes, "I am not even dignifying that with a response."

"Hah! You just did," she poked her tongue out at him.

"Well that was mature," he shook his head. He looked around uncomfortably.

"She's not coming," Nico told him calmly.

"Who's not?"

"My cousin Kae. She comes from a boarding school the next town over and was only staying over for the weekend, she went back to school on Sunday," she explained.

"How the hell do you keep-"

"I'm just good," she smirked, "So anyway she won't be going all fangirl on you."

He relaxed, "Thank god! Anyway so who are your friends?"

"Eh it changes all the time, I'm a bit of a loner mostly so I mostly hang with whichever group I feel like at the time. I tend to get bored of things… and foods…. and people…" she smiled.

"Are you bored with me yet?" he pleaded.

"Nope. You're funny," she grinned.

He pretended to sump in his chair, "Well that's something I have never been accused of.."

"What are you talking about? Most gay guys are funny," she hurried out of reach.

"What part of 'I'm not gay' do you not understand?"

OoOoO

"Well they seem to be having fun," Sakura observed as Nico laughed again, "I never knew anyone could find Sasuke so funny…"

"What are you talking about? I've always laughed at the bastard," Naruto said defensively.

She fixed him with a stare, "Let me rephrase that. I never knew anyone could find Sasuke so funny without him getting hurt or embarrassed in any way."

"Well he's not really funny," Amaya said swallowing, "I mean he's intense and all but I don't really see him as funny."

"His hair's funny," Ryo supplied grinning.

"He could be your brother," Dan pointed out to him.

"Yeah I don't think that's even possible," Naruto said grimacing.

"Yeah Sasuke's much hotter," Amaya said absently.

Everyone turned to her.

"Did I say that out loud?" she asked flinching.

"Umm I'm going to say yes," Sakura said laughing

"Come on we all know he's hot… he's just a bastard too," she said blushing, "Besides I prefer blondes," she said pointedly.

"I'm more of a brunette person," Naruto said through a mouthful of food, oblivious to the undertones.

"Me too," Sakura said smiling at Ryo.

OoOoO

"So have you finished the maths homework yet?" Nico asked Sasuke as they packed up for the afternoon.

"Yeah I finished it last night after we got back," He said shoving books into his bag.

"So um… did you understand it?" she said awkwardly.

He snorted, "Of course I did, how else could I have finished it?"

"Umm is there any chance I could possibly borrow your book?" she asked innocently.

He stared at her, "If you need help why don't you just ask?"

"Hey Sasuke."

"Yes?"

"Could you help me with the maths homework?" she grinned, "Bet you weren't expecting that."

He sighed, "I suppose so. Are you doing anything this afternoon?"

"Nope."

"Well why don't you come over and I'll help you with it," he closed his bag.

"Or you could come over to my house," she suggested.

He glared at her, "You're so lazy."

She grinned, "It's just lucky I'm so loveable eh?"

"Anyway I left my book at home so we'll have to go there anyway," he shrugged.

"Can we go to my place first then? I really need to get changed out of this uniform," she wrinkled up her nose.

"Why? The uniform is so much more fun," he said checking her out slyly.

"Bastard, like you're even actually interested. I know you only have eyes for the blonde," she grinned.

OoOoO

"Mum!" Nico yelled out as they walked in her door, "I'm going over to a friend's place to do homework."

"Okay." A voice yelled back.

"By the way this is Sasuke," Nico yelled out.

"Hi Sasuke, make yourself at home dear," the voice replied.

Sasuke followed the girl down the hall, she stopped and nudged him in the ribs, "Don't be so rude! Answer the lady."

"Um thank you?" he called out quietly.

"You'll have to speak up dear I'm wearing a towel."

Sasuke went bright red, "Thank you!"

A muscular brunette boy walked past them down the hallway.

"That's Kani he's my younger brother," Nico said grinning.

"OLDER!" a deep voice came back, "Two freaking years older!"

She laughed, "People used to think we were twins and he gets really offended by it."

Sasuke shook his head and followed her into her room. She dropped her bag and grabbed her maths book out of it and a pencil case.

"How are you at English?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you go taking advantage of him," a voice admonished. Sasuke turned around and there was a plump lady wrapped in a towel with another around her head, "Don't you let her cheat off you, she's notorious for it around here."

The Uchiha forced a smile, "I won't m'am."

She giggled, "Please call me Ria, everyone else does."

"Okay Ria," his smile was less forced the second time, there was something about the atmosphere which made it impossible to be uncomfortable.

"Right well both of you get the hell out of my room I need to get changed," Nico said grinning.

"Come on Sasuke I'll show you the kitchen, you must be hungry after school," Ria said grabbing his arm in a way quite reminiscent of her daughter. She dragged him into the kitchen where Kani and a larger boy were sitting.

"Oh Sasuke this is Kani and Torya," Ria said bustling around, "now what would you like to eat?"

"Oh I don't mind anything is fine by me," Sasuke said politely.

"Since when does Nico have hot friends?" Torya commented.

"Isn't he a little feminine for you Tor?" Kani asked.

"Doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view," the older boy grinned, "I'm Torya. Don't worry I'm spoken for and you're not really my type anyway."

"Um thanks... I think…" Sasuke said, confused, Torya's grin grew wider.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to hit on my friends Torya!" Nico laughed, "Even if they are gay."

"I'm not gay!" Sasuke blurted out blushing.

"How do you know she meant you?" Kani laughed as he shovelled in another mouthful of cereal.

"I see where you get your personality from," Sasuke said pretending to sulk.

"And most of her comebacks too I'll wager," Kani said raising an eyebrow.

"Thanks Mum," Nico said grabbing the snack her mother had been preparing and kissing her on the cheek, "Come on Sas lets go."

She picked up her bag and an apple which she bit into as she walked out the door.

"Nice meeting you all," Sasuke said quickly following her.

"Come back anytime sweets," Ria called after him.

"And bring your blonde with you!" Torya called out.

"He's not-" Sasuke started but Nico laughed and pulled him after her. The brunette boy led her to his house.

"Are you sure you really want me to know where you live?" she asked him, grinning.

"I hadn't thought about that," Sasuke said glumly, "Unfortunately its too late now, we're here."

He walked in the door and led her to the kitchen where Iruka was reading over drafts.

"Oh hello Sasuke, who is this?" Iruka asked, surprised to see someone else.

"Oh Iruka this is Nico, Nico Iruka," Sasuke said calmly.

"Hi! I had forgotten Sasuke lived with teachers. I've heard all about both of you but I haven't had either of you yet. Are you the nice one or the weird one?" Nico asked brightly.

"Well I don't-" Iruka started.

"The nice one," Sasuke interrupted, "Kakashi's the weird one."

"Am not," Kakashi said coming down the stairs and walking straight out the door.

"Yes you are," Sasuke called after him, smothering a chuckle at Nico's expression, "I'm going to get changed and grab my book. Feel free to eat."

"So Nico…" Iruka began uncomfortably.

"I'm sure the other teachers have already mentioned me," she laughed.

"Well actually yes," the young man admitted.

"It's ok I know they don't like me. It's because I ask too many questions and argue a lot," she shrugged, "I can't help it if I'm curious. My brothers are the same."

Iruka smiled, "I know a boy like that, have you met Naruto yet?"

"Not yet."

"He's very curious and argumentative also. Actually you remind me of him quite a bit," Iruka said thoughtfully.

"Really?" Nico said raising an eyebrow, "How interesting."

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Please review! I like to know what you think, especially about an OC having such a large role.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Here you are. Enjoy!**

* * *

Iruka left the two students alone in the kitchen to work on their homework.

Nico looked over at Sasuke and laughed. He was wearing a purple shirt.

"What?" he asked defensively.

"What did I tell you about purple?" she asked giggling.

He looked down at his shirt, "I like this shirt."

"It's still the colour of sexual frustration," she said teasingly.

"Wow I sure came in at the wrong time," Naruto commented as he walked over to the fridge, "All I heard was sexual frustration."

Nico looked at him and laughed, after all who wears purple pants?

Sasuke could almost see the glint in her eye, "So did you know that purple is the colour of sexual frustration?"

Naruto choked as he drank out of the milk carton and Sasuke turned bright red.

Nico just laughed.

"Naruto I hope you aren't going to put that back in the fridge now that you've contaminated it," Sasuke said crossly.

"Of course not!" he said a little guiltily, making the other two teenagers certain that he had been about to do exactly that.

"Hi I'm Nico," she said brightly standing up and walking over to the blonde, "I'm in some of Sasuke's classes."

"I think I saw you at the arcade last Friday too didn't I?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Yep, showing my cousin how we do things outside the city," she smiled.

"So what is orange the colour of?" Naruto asked cheerfully.

"That's a very good question," Nico said.

"And?"

"I have absolutely no idea," she grinned, "But I'm sure it has a very good answer too. Well I'd better go home, it's my turn to help with dinner," Nico said wrinkling her nose, "Unless you want to help me with my English…"

"No that's ok you can go. I wouldn't want Ria coming after me," Sasuke said in mock seriousness.

She sighed, "Fine then be like that see if I care."

She packed her books up and put everything back in her bag.

"And I'll leave the two of you to work out your sexual frustration," she grinned and ran.

"NICO!" Sasuke bellowed after the hastily retreating girl.

Naruto turned red and laughed nervously, "So Sasuke… since when do you have friends? And fun friends at that."

"Since Nico won't leave me alone," he growled, "I've tried ignoring her but it just makes her worse."

"I don't know, the pair of you look kinda cute together," Naruto said slowly.

The Uchiha felt a strange pain in his chest, "She's a friend Naruto. Just a friend."

The brunette boy stormed up the stairs and flopped onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow.

_Kinda cute together._

Why did those words affect him so much? It was true he had no interest in Nico as anything other than a friend, and he was pretty sure that the fact that she stubbornly insisted he was gay meant that she had no romantic designs on him either. Which was good because it meant there was no weirdness, aside from the usual that is, after all Nico carried weird around with her like a personal cloud. Her family was sweet and all but not exactly normal, if Naruto had a family that is how he would imagine them.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto said softly from the doorway, "I'm not sure what I said to offend you but I'm sorry ok?"

"Hn," Sasuke said from his position under the pillow.

"We missed you at lunch," the blonde ventured.

Sasuke glowered into the pillow. Yeah sure they had, especially with that stupid girl slobbering all over his Naruto.

"Ah shit!" Sasuke said into the pillow. That was not the first time he had thought of him like that.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked walking over to the boy's bed side.

"Stupid fucking thoughts keep fucking…" Sasuke ranted into his pillow.

The blonde leaned on the bed next to him, "What did you say?"

The other boy shot up and gave him a quick kiss on his half open mouth.

"I need to think," he said running out of the room.

"Damn confusing bastard," Naruto said with a slight smile.

Sasuke's head was reeling as he climbed the familiar backyard tree.

"So, ready to talk yet?" Kakashi asked him from Naruto's branch.

Sasuke groaned, had he actually named the branch?

"Figured it out have you?" the jounin asked in a conversational tone, "I wondered how long it would take."

"You mean you.."

"Please, I have been watching the two of you together since you were put into my team. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?" Kakashi laughed, "To be honest I thought Naruto would have figured it out long before you."

He sat and ignored the talkative teacher. He could not ever remember having a crush or any liking towards any girl. Ever. Although he had never felt attracted to another guy either if he was entirely honest.

"No you're not asexual Sasuke," the older man told him with a grin, "Maybe you're Narutosexual."

"And this is why nobody comes to you with issues," Sasuke said gritting his teeth.

"Yeah well Iruka's busy cooking dinner he can smooth things out later. I'm just here to see how many funny faces I can get you to make."

"Sasuke, Kakashi, dinner's ready!" Sakura called out the back door.

OoOoO

"So Sasuke… Nico seems nice…" Iruka said awkwardly.

The Uchiha snorted, "Nice? She's about as crazy as they come."

"She reminds me of Naruto," the teacher said taking a mouthful of food.

"Only about ten times more embarrassing," the brunette boy said taking another bite.

"She's nothing like me," Naruto said, outraged.

"Dobe, she's loud, obnoxious, weird, stupid-"

"That's not a very nice thing to say," Iruka told him disapprovingly.

"Why not? I've already told her she's loud and annoying. And would I have had to help her with her homework if she wasn't stupid?" the Uchiha said rolling his eyes, "She knows what I think about her."

"You helped me with my homework," Naruto said defensively.

"You really do walk into these things don't you dobe?" Sasuke said dryly.

"Oh, right," he said blushing.

"We'll clean up tonight," Kakashi said decidedly looking at the surprised students, "Why don't you all go do homework or something."

Sasuke walked distractedly out the back door and the other two walked up the stairs.

"Now, what's wrong?" the silver haired man asked looking at Iruka.

"What do you mean?" Iruka asked evasively, "What makes you think something is wrong?"

"Honey you've been avoiding me ever since we went camping," he said wrapping his arms around the other man's waist.

"Well you haven't taken the mask off yet," the brunette said defensively.

"I haven't had a reason to," he replied sadly.

Iruka pulled away and started washing up, "Please don't make me feel like the bad guy here."

"Who said there was a bad guy?" Kakashi asked softly, "Please just tell me what's wrong. I've been trying to work it out but I can't. One moment things were fine and the next they weren't, what happened?"

When Iruka turned around there were tears in his eyes, "I didn't ask for this and I'm not suited to it. I shouldn't be here, you know that. If anything happens I'll be the damsel in distress waiting for someone to come save me. I don't know why they sent me on this mission in the first place!"

He turned back to the dishes with renewed vigour.

Kakashi slid his arms around the brunette's waist and rested his chin on his shoulder.

"You're here because I need you here, and so do the others. I can fight and handle all of that side of things but we would have destroyed the house and starved by now if it wasn't for you. We need you to be practical. I need you," he pulled down his mask, "Iruka honey, I can't do this without you."

"Please don't call me that. It only makes things harder," Iruka said quietly.

"What do you mean harder?" the jounin pulled back and turned the other man around to face him, "Make what harder?"

"This whole thing, the whole time I'll be wondering when we'll be called back, dreading that moment."

"You don't like Konoha?" he asked, confused.

"I love Konoha but I… I don't want to go from having you to not having you. It would just be too hard. So please just don't," Iruka said sadly turning back to his washing up.

"Who said you wouldn't have me?" Kakashi asked, surprised.

"As soon as we're back home everything will go back to the way it was and I will only ever see you in passing or when we come into conflict about your team. It will be hard enough to go back to that without you making things worse," he explained, concentrating on the dishes.

"Leave those bloody dishes alone and talk to me! Do you really think Sakura would be able to go back to squealing over Sasuke? Do you really think Sasuke and Naruto's relationship will ever go back to how it was? This whole trip is changing everyone and I don't think anything will be the same by the time we go home. Sasuke might be able to but I won't be able to go back to hiding," he pulled off his mask and threw it on the floor.

"Do you really mean that?" Iruka asked softly.

"Of course I do. I'm not doing this because of where we are or what we're doing, I'm definitely using the opportunity but hey, who wouldn't?" he grinned and Iruka felt himself smiling too, "I really do care about you Iruka."

He pulled their bodies together and let their lips meet gently.

"Do you really care about me?" Iruka asked in an innocent tone.

"Of course I do," Kakashi said warily.

"Enough to help clean up after you volunteered us?" the brunette asked flatly.

"Lets just say that I care about you a lot but, some things are just impossible for me," there was a puff of smoke and Iruka was alone.

"KAKASHI!"

* * *

**Let me know what you thought.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

"Hey Nico?" Sasuke began at lunch the next day, obviously preoccupied.

"Yeah?" she mumbled chewing on something which appeared to be covered in chocolate.

"Would you think any differently of me if I were gay?"

She choked, coughing up chocolately crumbs, "Is this a trick question?"

"No," the Uchiha told her very seriously.

"Sassi I already knew you were gay you big queen. Why would I have a problem with it?" she laughed.

"I don't know, that just seems to be what happens in the movies," he said awkwardly, clearly on unfamiliar territory.

"Its not really my opinion you're worried about is it?" she asked shrewdly.

"Probably not," he admitted.

"Blondie?" she asked sympathetically.

He fought down a blush, "Why would that matter?"

Nico raised an eyebrow, "Don't play coy with me. We both know who turned you. I doubt you find any other guy even remotely attractive."

"Not really…"

"Well?"

"Well what?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"Are you going to tell him?" she clarified.

"I don't know, it'll make things awkward and…" he trailed off.

"Come on you love the guy right? What's the problem?"

"What's the problem with what?" Naruto asked sitting down.

"With helping me with English. I don't get the problem, I mean I wouldn't even take up his time. All I want to do is borrow his book," Nico told him huffily.

"Yeah he wouldn't let me do that either," the blonde told her ruefully, "Since you guys wouldn't join us I thought I'd come join you over here."

"Does that mean your whole stage crew and roadies are coming too?" Nico asked wrinkling her nose.

"I have a stage crew?" Naruto asked raising an eyebrow.

The girl shrugged, "Close enough anyway. No offence Naruto, you're a nice guy and all but I hate followers."

"Yeah I'm not so hot on them myself. And we both know how the Uchiha feels about them," he said glancing sideways at the blonde, he had barely moved since the other boy sat down. Through his head all he could were Nico's words from the day before _Why don't you just go jump him and let him know how you feel?_

He fought down the urge to laugh. What would Naruto think if the reserved Sasuke were to jump him in cafeteria full of people?

"Hey Sassi you listening?" Nico asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Oh sorry I spaced out," the brunette apologised, "What were you saying?"

"I was just saying that we could go check out the dojo now if you guys wanted to. I'm pretty sure it would be fairly empty at the moment if you guys would like a quick spar. Naruto hasn't seen it yet and I didn't have time to show you the inside yesterday," Nico explained with a meaningful look.

"Oh yeah sure," Sasuke replied lamely, "Sounds good."

"You know we never did finish our sparring the other day," Naruto reminded him cheekily.

Why does it feel like I'm being ganged up on here? Sasuke thought to himself.

OoOoO

"The change rooms are just through there," Nico told them pointing in one direction, she headed off in the other direction.

"What aren't you changing too?" Sasuke asked innocently.

"Uh those are the guys change rooms Sassi," she replied raising an eyebrow.

"Oh that's right, I keep forgetting you're a girl," the Uchiha commented lightly.

She glared at him, "Oh you are so going down."

"Wow I could say so many things there but I won't," Naruto chuckled, "Come on bastard, let's get changed."

As he turned around Sasuke saw Nico wink and give him the thumbs up and inwardly groaned. One of his best friends was trying to set him up with his other best friend. This could only end badly.

"So, Sassi huh?" Naruto commented unbuttoning his shirt.

"If you ever call me that I will kill you," Sasuke replied watching him, the brunette slowly undid his tie and unbuttoned his own shirt.

Naruto lifted his tie over his head and looked at him blushing slightly looking away quickly, "What's wrong Sasu-kins? I think it's cute."

"Wow coming from a guy wearing teddy bear boxers that means a lot," the Uchiha commented lazily as the other boy took off his school pants, "Why don't you ever undo your tie?"

The blonde blushed and turned away, "Because otherwise I'd have to get Iruka to do it up again," he mumbled quietly.

Sasuke rolled his eyebrows, "You're such a dobe. I can do it for you, it's easy."

"Nah it's alright I just leave it done up," Naruto said shrugging into the looser gym clothes.

"Are you pansies going to come fight or not?" Nico called into the dressing room.

Sasuke sighed and quickly finished dressing.

"Are you going to take that?" Naruto asked, amused at the reaction.

"It's Nico, I'm used to it," the brunette said sighing, "She's like a disease, you either die or get used to it."

The blonde boy raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He wandered out into the dojo.

"So would you guys prefer to three way or take turns?" Nico asked grinning as Sasuke exited the change rooms glaring.

"How about gang up on Nico?" the Uchiha suggested glaring at her.

"Or we could gang up on the bastard," Naruto suggested evilly.

"Exactly what I was going to suggest," the girl said, her eyes glinting.

"Fine," Sasuke sighed, "After all I'm probably the only one out of us who could defend against both at the same time."

"Cocky bugger isn't he?" Nico commented lightly as if he wasn't even in the room.

"He always has been," Naruto told her, "For as long as I've known him he's always been totally up himself."

"And it's always been justified dobe," Sasuke smirked, "Have you ever beaten me?"

"The odds are in my favour today," he grinned. Naruto launched himself at the brunette aiming a punch at chest height, Sasuke quickly blocked and then ducked as Nico's foot came flying at his head. He grabbed her leg and threw her onto the ground and caught a foot in the stomach from Naruto. The Uchiha grabbed the offending leg and spun the boy around. Nico rolled away and stood up catching Naruto and pushing him back towards Sasuke. The Uchiha threw a few punches between blocking Naruto's blows.

"Well what have we here?" a voice said from the doorway.

All three teenagers froze. Nico turned and looked. In the doorway stood a tall tanned boy with curly green hair and hazel eyes.

"Diran!" she cried running at the door and hugging the person standing there, "Where have you been?"

He shrugged, "Ah Mum was going away so I went with her. It was kinda unexpected but fun anyway. These must be the new guys I've been hearing about."

"Oh right Sassi, Naruto this is Diran a friend of mine, and my regular sparring partner," Nico beamed.

"Sassi?" the tall boy asked raising an eyebrow.

The brunette sighed and walked over, "I'm Sasuke. Unfortunately Nico decided to rename me. That's the least embarrassing of her nicknames."

"Ah yeah, she does that," Diran winced, "And watch out for Torya."

"Yeah I know, although apparently I'm too feminine for him," Sasuke told him laughing.

Naruto slowly walked over and joined them.

"And this must be Naruto if that is your real name," Diran joked.

"Yup that's mine all right," Naruto smiled slightly, this was a side of Sasuke he had only rarely seen.

"Yeah Nico hasn't managed to come up with anything more embarrassing yet," Sasuke explained, "But give her time I'm sure she's working on it."

Nico poked her tongue out, "Hey I've got an idea. Why don't you guys all come over for tea tonight? As a sort of welcome home thing for Diran."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, "Do you think we'd be allowed?"

"I don't know, what about Sakura?" Naruto said uneasily.

"Bring her along," Nico smiled, "any friend of Sas-gay's is a friend of mine."

"Nico," Sasuke growled, "I told you not to call me that."

"Oh and everybody wanted to meet the new people so that would work out perfectly," Nico said clapping.

"Sure I'll be there," Diran shrugged, "I'd go Ria's cooking any day."

"Yeah we'll be there. I think," Sasuke told her, "I've never tried her cooking."

"It's the best," the green haired boy assured him, "And I'll bet Torya can't wait to meet Naruto. He has a thing for blondes."

"Well he definitely expressed an interest in meeting him," the Uchiha said watching Naruto look away uneasily, "Don't worry Naruto he's taken, he just likes to 'enjoy the view' as he put it."

"Right well if you all come around at about five thirtyish," Nico told them, "Now we'd better get changed or we'll be late for class."

* * *

**Hope you liked it. Let me know what you thought.**


	15. Chapter 15

**I have so much assessment and once again as soon as I have work to do Sasuke and Naruto won't leave me alone so I hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

"Iruka?" Sasuke asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Hm?" the brunette replied poring over reports.

"Would it be alright if the three of us went over to Nico's for dinner?" he asked innocently.

"Would it what?" the teacher asked looking at him.

"Would it be alright if Sakura, Naruto and I went over to Nico's house for dinner tonight? A friend of hers got back today and she is having a dinner for him and we're invited," he explained.

"Who will be there?" he asked nervously.

"Nico, Kani, Torya, Diran, her other brother and Ria," Sasuke counted off.

"Will her parents be there?" Iruka asked, going into parental mode.

"Ria is her mother and she will definitely be there. She's the one cooking dinner, I don't know about her father I haven't met him yet."

"Does she really want all of you around there? That is a lot of people," Iruka said disapprovingly, "I don't want you making trouble for her."

Sasuke sighed, "Nico said you could call if you wanted to check things over with Ria. Here's their phone number. Let me know how things work out."

Sasuke walked up the stairs.

Iruka dialled the number and waited nervously.

"City morgue you kill 'em we chill 'em, Torya speaking," a deep voice on the end of the line said pleasantly.

"Oh I'm sorry I must have.." the name rang a bell, "Wait is this Nico's brother Torya?"

"Yup would you like to talk to her?"

"No would I be able to talk to your mother please?"

"Yeah sure I'll just get her for you."

There was the sound of the phone being put down.

"Ria get your butt in here there's someone on the phone for you!"

"I'm coming keep your pants on." Another voice said.

"Hello this is Ria," a woman's voice said cheerfully.

"Um hello, this is Iruka I'm one of Sasuke's guardians.." Iruka began awkwardly.

"Oh hi! Nico said you might be calling, how are you? We had Sasuke over here just yesterday. He's such a polite young man isn't he?" she gushed.

"I'm fine thank you, I'm glad he was so polite," the young man fumbled.

"Oh of course he was, he's such a sweetie. He's welcome over here anytime."

"That's what I was calling about. He said Nico invited the three of them over for dinner tonight and I just wanted to make sure that was alright with you," Iruka explained, trying to gain control over the situation.

"Oh yes, that's quite alright, it's already quite a zoo around here a few extra faces can't hurt. The more the merrier I always say."

"Are you sure? That's a lot of mouths to feed, would you like a hand?" he asked concernedly.

"No I'm fine, I run a catering business so I'm quite used to feeding large crowds. And with as many boys as I have you get used to cooking extra I can tell you. They just have the biggest appetites, poor Nico tries to keep up with their steel stomachs but she just…."

"That's good I just thought I'd better make sure," he interrupted hastily.

"Well that was very sweet of you for calling. Did you want them home by any particular time?"

"Just send them home when you get sick of them," Iruka said, unaware that he was echoing the words of generations of parents.

"Oh I couldn't do that or they'd never leave!" she giggled, "Don't worry I won't keep them too late, I know they have school in the morning. Well it was nice talking to you Iruka and I hope both of you will come over some other time too."

"I'm sure we will, bye."

"Good bye dear."

The brunette man breathed a sigh of relief as he hung up the phone.

"Yeah she can talk alright," Sasuke smirked from the bottom of the stairs.

"Can she ever."

"She's really nice though," the Uchiha commented.

"Yes I can tell. Well anyway its alright for all of you to go over for dinner," Iruka told him, sitting back down to his reports.

"I felt sure it would be."

"Yes well I have to be responsible and check on these things. Some parents might not like a bunch of hungry teenagers turning up on their doorstep."

"Yes but you haven't met Ria, I don't think an army turning up on her doorstep would faze her," Sasuke said lightly, "Well I might go have a shower and get ready."

The brunette boy walked up the stairs where the other two were waiting in the boy's bedroom. They both pounced on him as he entered.

"What did he say?"

"It's fine," Sasuke shrugged, "We're allowed to go, and I shotgun the shower first."

"How can you shotgun a shower?" Sakura asked.

"According to Naruto you can shotgun anything, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to have a shower," he stopped in the doorway, "Unless either of you want to join me?"

"I'm right thanks," Sakura said dryly.

"No thanks Sas-gay," Naruto said grinning.

"Only for you Naruto, only for you," the brunette replied as he left the room whistling.

Naruto choked, what the hell did he mean by that?

Sakura laughed, "He's so much more like this!"

"Don't you find it weird?" Naruto asked uncomfortably.

The girl looked at him, "Naruto, he's finally having fun in a way that doesn't involve violence or depression. This is a really good thing, he's making friends, making jokes, laughing. He's happy, forget the old Sasuke enjoy the new one who has been hiding all these years."

"But what if he goes back to the old Sasuke when we go back to Konoha," Naruto almost whispered looking down at his hands, "I don't think I could handle that."

Sakura leaned over and hugged the boy, "It's our job to make sure he doesn't! Now we've seen the real Sasuke we have to make sure he stays that way. Now I'm going to go pick out something to wear."

OoOoO

Why did everything have to happen as soon as Sasuke decided to be a good boy? Opportunities to mess with Naruto popping up left and right. He had tried to be good, he thought as he let the water run down his chest, it was not working. He has just basically told Naruto he was gay. For him. Not only that but he had purposely not brought any clothes into the bathroom so the only way he was getting back to their room was in a towel. Sasuke Uchiha was just not built right for being good, he decided, so instead I'll just have fun. He grinned to himself, and fun he would have.

"Hey Naruto, the shower's free," Sasuke said casually, walking into the bedroom with a towel around his waist and his damp hair dripping slightly, "But you'll have to race Sakura for it."

"Don't even think about it Naruto I shotgun the next shower!" Sakura yelled out.

"Oops too slow," Sasuke grinned as the blonde finally looked up and saw him in the doorway.

He turned bright red, "What the hell are you doing bastard?"

"Well this is my room too you know," he replied innocently.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean you can parade around half naked!" the blonde told him in a strangled tone.

"Well I forgot to take my clothes into the bathroom, I could have come fully naked if you wanted, all you had to do was ask," the Uchiha said grabbing onto the towel.

"No! I meant you should be fully dressed not fully naked! Or half naked or…" Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.

Sasuke trailed a wet hand across the back of Naruto's neck as he walked over to the cupboard, "Relax dobe I just want to get dressed. You can leave if you're getting uncomfortable, although I have been standing here in a towel for quite some time and you have not yet made a move towards the door oddly enough."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Naruto accused, opening his eyes again.

"Of course I am, you're so cute when you're uncomfortable," the brunette boy chuckled, "Now I'm about to remove my towel so I suggest you either turn around or leave."

Naruto made a hasty retreat to the safety of the hallway. He realised he was sweating.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought. After this week I don't know when i will be able to update so enjoy any chapters I manage to get up in that time 'kay?**


	16. Chapter 16

**I just couldn't help it, this seems to be my stress relief. I get more chapters done when I have work hanging over my head. Oh well. And yes my computer is still fried and I am uploading this at school. I hope I get the chance to read through all your lovely reviews, they are the high point of my exam and assignment filled days.**

* * *

_Ding dong_

Kani answered the door, "Oh hey Sasuke. Torya he brought the blonde!" he yelled out, "Come on in guys."

Sasuke strolled in followed by Sakura and a stricken looking Naruto.

"Don't worry blondie, he's harmless," Kani assured Naruto.

"Sorry I forgot, Kani this is Sakura and Naruto, guys this is Kani," Sasuke introduced them as they walked into the kitchen area.

"Nice to meet you," Sakura said politely.

"Nico you didn't tell me his friend was hot," Kani complained.

"No but I told you she was going out with Ryo!" Nico said pointedly, "Hi Sassi, Naruto. You must be Sakura."

"Nice to finally meet you," Sakura smiled.

"Hi Sasuke," Ria said from the stove, "I'm Ria, Nico's mother. Make yourselves at home."

"Thank you, I'm Sakura and this is Naruto," Sakura told her, smiling at the woman's strange attire. She had slippers on which looked like ships and apron on over her clothes which said 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, but when it's gone I'll drink the red.' The strangest thing about it was that it was on backwards.

"She always wipes her hands on her back when she's cooking," Nico explained.

"Oooh you brought the blonde!" Torya squealed as he walked into the kitchen, "He's even cuter up close! Hi I'm Torya."

"Um hi I'm Naruto," the blonde boy said uncomfortably.

"Tor honey you're making him uncomfortable," a tall, muscular guy with long wavy blonde hair scolded as he entered the kitchen.

"But he's so cute!" Torya pouted, "This is my boyfriend Jules."

"Hi everyone, sorry we can't eat with you tonight but we already have plans," Jules told them apologetically.

"Oh well I'm glad I finally got to meet you Naruto, everyone has been talking about you!" Torya gushed.

"Um thanks, I think…" Naruto said, slightly confused. Sasuke remembered his first meeting with Torya and grinned.

"You're welcome hun," Tor beamed.

"Come on, leave him alone, he's Sasuke's," Jules said pulling his boyfriend towards the door.

"He's not my-"

"I'm not his-"

Sasuke and Naruto protested at the same time.

"Well you should be. You're a hot couple," Jules advised, "Good night everyone!"

"Night guys," Nico said, "Diran and Mikel are through here playing a board game."

She led them into the lounge room where Diran and another boy were playing a game.

"It's your turn sis," the blonde boy informed her.

"Oh guys this is Mikel my other brother, Mikel this is Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura," Nico introduced sitting down.

"Well this looks very…wholesome," Sasuke said raising an eyebrow.

"Ah you say that now but just wait til we break out the drugs and alcohol and get the sex happening," Nico commented dryly as she rolled the dice. All three ninja turned bright red.

Diran laughed, "Come sit down we can play teams, its only Pictionary."

Sasuke joined Mikel's team, Naruto went with Nico and Sakura played with Diran.

Nico and Naruto won by a mile.

"How can you guys be so in sync?" Mikel complained.

They exchanged glances.

"They're just very similar," Sasuke told him, "Naruto is the male version of your sister."

"And that's why you love me," the girl smirked.

The Uchiha glared, "Which is why I've been trying to get rid of you all week."

"It's only Tuesday," Diran commented.

"It feels like centuries," the brunette boy groaned and everyone laughed, Nico poked her tongue out.

"Dinner's ready!" Ria called out.

OoOoO

"Ria your cooking is incredible!" Sakura told the woman.

"You just wait til you try my ramen," she winked.

"Ramen?" Naruto and Nico squealed together, Sasuke laughed.

"Figures," he said looking at the pair.

"A girl after my own stomach," Naruto grinned.

"So Naruto, how did you get the scars?" Nico asked curiously.

"You know, I have no idea. I've just always had them I guess," the blonde boy told her honestly.

"They're kinda cool, different I guess," Diran said staring at them.

"Like he really needs them to stand out," Sasuke commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke was caught half way through a mouthful like a deer in headlights. He blushed, "Well I mean he already grabs attention. I mean you saw how Torya reacted."

"Oh you mean he's hot," Nico said casually and Sasuke's face discovered a new shade of red.

"Stop teasing him," Naruto scolded, "Everyone knows I'm hot."

"And modest too," Sakura commented raising an eyebrow.

"I know I am, what can I say? I am good," Naruto shrugged.

"Well who wants dessert?" Ria asked them to a resounding 'me'.

OoOoO

"Man I am stuffed," Diran told them.

"I reckon I could go another round," Naruto said eyeing the table.

"Oh no you don't," Sakura told him, "Use your manners."

"Besides I think your stomach is on the verge of exploding," Sasuke commented.

"Is that a challenge?" the blonde asked cheekily.

"No way, if you eat more I'll have less leftovers!" Nico told him very seriously.

Her mother slapped her over the back of her head as she walked past, "Don't be so rude Nico! They can have as much as they like."

"No that's alright Ria," Naruto pouted, "Although everything was absolutely delicious and I think your ramen might possibly be the best I have ever tasted."

Sasuke and Sakura gasped, "I think that might be the biggest compliment Naruto has ever given!"

"Thank you dear, all of you are welcome around here any time. We're very informal so if you ever want to come over just walk in, I'm used to it," Ria beamed, "Now I'll leave you kids be."

"Mum we're not kids!" Mikel whined.

"You sound like one," Diran told him.

"And so does your mother," Mikel told him.

"You're so stupid," Nico sighed, "Come on who's up for singstar?"

OoOoO

"Wow I can't believe you actually sang," Naruto said to Sasuke as the three teenagers walked home.

"Why not? It was my turn," Sasuke shrugged.

"Yeah but you were…"

"Awesome!" Sakura interrupted, "Why didn't you tell us you could sing?"

"There's a lot of things you guys don't know about me," Sasuke commented as they walked inside to find Iruka fully dressed and Kakashi in boxer shorts.

"What the hell?" Sakura asked, horrified.

"Who knew Iruka was so good at strip poker?" Kakashi asked lightly.

"I knew he was good at regular- holy cow where's your mask!" Naruto yelled.

Kakashi pouted, "Yeah if I knew he was this good I wouldn't have suggested it."

Sasuke laughed, "Well if you'll excuse me I have another memory to block out."

With that the brunette boy walked up the stairs, the other two students hesitated then followed him.

OoOoO

"So Naruto," Sasuke grinned as he sat down on his bed, "What are you like at poker?"

"Not tonight, it's late and I'm tired," Naruto yawned.

"Another time then?"

"Good night Sasuke."

The Uchiha sighed, "Well you're no fun."

OoOoO

Naruto woke up shivering, everything was still dark. He rolled up in his blanket but he couldn't get warm. He sighed and sat up, there was only way he was going to be sleeping tonight. He picked up his blanket and walked over to the other bed.

"Move over bastard," he said grumpily, he would hear all about it in the morning. He rolled the boy over and climbed under the blanket, adding his own over top. He snuggled down under the blankets.

"Damn you're warm," he whispered.

"I know," Sasuke replied wrapping his warms arms around the freezing blonde.

"This is only cuz I'm cold," Naruto growled.

"I know, doesn't mean I can't enjoy it," the brunette replied sleepily, "Night."

"Night."

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**Thought I'd leave you all with that image. Once again I don't know when I will update next. After this week it might be a while before I can update again so enjoy this regularity while you can.**

**Let me know what you thought ;p**


	17. Chapter 17

**I know it has been a while but like I said, no internet and I am currently using my Aunty's internet under the pretence of looking at job options for next year.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

When Naruto woke up he was feeling warm all over, the last thing he wanted to do was get up.

Sasuke chuckled in his ear, "Comfortable dobe?"

Naruto became aware of his surroundings. He was curled up against Sasuke's bare chest, their legs were intertwined.

And Naruto really didn't want to move.

"Sasuke?" he cleared his throat.

"Hm?"

"Do you really mind? I'm kind of comfortable here," the blonde said hesitantly.

"Why would I mind?" the boy chuckled again.

Naruto hesitated again, "You just don't seem to be the touchy feely type of person, especially with your best friend."

"Like I said last night dobe, there's a lot you don't know about me. But you don't find this weird at all?" Sasuke asked slowly.

"Well yeah…but I'm too warm to move," Naruto whined.

"Would this be a bad time to tell you I think I'm gay?" Sasuke grinned, tightening his arms around the blonde who froze.

"Um…yeah this might be a bad time," Naruto said jokingly.

"Right well then I won't tell you yet then," the brunette laughed and rested his head on the blonde boy's head.

"Good," Naruto said snuggling up to the other boy's chest which was surprisingly warm and comfortable. He drifted back into the world of dreams.

"But it's still true," Sasuke whispered in the blonde's ear, "I think I love you Naruto."

OoOoO

Naruto woke again and stared at the sleeping Uchiha. When he was asleep he hardly seemed evil. Naruto reached up and brushed the fringe out of Sasuke's eyes. The brunette licked his hand.

Definitely evil.

Not an innocent bone in his body.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," Sasuke said opening his eyes with a gentle smile, "How did you sleep?"

Naruto opened his mouth to form some sort of retort and closed it again.

"Actually surprisingly well thank you. How about you?"

"Well the sleep wasn't much but the dreams were amazing," the brunette smirked tightening his arms around the other boy.

"Can't you ever be serious?" Naruto whined.

"Dobe I have spent years being serious. I'm on a break now," Sasuke said releasing the blonde and standing. He leaned over and kissed the other boy softly yet deeply.

"That's the fee for last night. I hope you enjoyed your stay please come again," Sasuke walked out whistling.

Naruto rolled over and leaned up on an elbow watching the doorway.

Sakura paused as she walked past the open door, "Did you guys swap beds or something?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said as he came back in the door, "That one was giving me a sore back so Naruto offered to trade."

He paused, "But then I decided I liked the other one so I climbed back in with him and had passionate sex all night long," he added straight-faced.

"Sasuke!" Naruto blushed.

"Oh sorry was that supposed to be our little secret?" the brunette asked innocently.

Sakura laughed, "So was the other bed better then Sasuke?"

"Yeah it was alright, they're both much the same," he shrugged.

"Hey you three hurry up and get moving!" Iruka roused as he walked past the doorway, "You have school!"

"Doesn't matter if I'm late," Naruto shrugged, "I have Kakashi, doesn't matter how late I am he'll be later."

"If you are late to any class I will personally give you detention, that goes for all of you," Iruka threatened.

"Aww relax," Kakashi said draping his arms around Iruka's shoulders, "We all know it's true," Kakashi said breathily in his ear.

Iruka turned bright red, "Hurry up and get ready!"

He almost ran from the room.

Sasuke and Sakura looked stunned, Naruto burst out laughing, "I knew there was something going on there!"

"That is so not something I ever wanted to see," Sakura said, "They're… teachers. That's disgusting."

"What is?" Sasuke asked getting oddly infuriated, "That they're both guys?"

"No," Sakura said, "They're just so old," she said wrinkling her nose up.

Naruto laughed again, "Come on we better hurry up and get ready."

OoOoO

"Sorry I'm late but I missed the bus and got lost in the shopping centre," Kakashi said leaning on his desk.

"Kakashi we don't even take a bus," Naruto said rolling his eyes.

"Lucky I missed it then," he said grinning, there were a few sighs from girls around the room, the mysterious teacher had already gathered a bit of a following.

"You're so stupid," Naruto muttered.

"And you're just jealous because I can give you detention," the silver haired man smirked.

"And so can your boyfriend," he muttered.

Kakashi grinned in response, "Well enough of our domestic squabbles, who finished the homework from last class?"

The entire class raised their hands, "Good, well seeing as you managed that without me you can move onto the next chapter. I'll just be sitting here reading if you need me."

Naruto groaned as the teacher pulled out one of his worn orange books.

"Sir, um… should you really be reading that in class?" one girl asked awkwardly.

"Probably not, lucky I'm not in class eh? Get on with your work, if you have any questions ask the people around you, if they don't know then come up here."

"Wow I'm so glad I'm sitting next to you Sassi," Nico said groaning as she looked down at her workbook.

"Yeah I reckon," Naruto said wrinkling up his nose.

Sasuke groaned, "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to be getting much work done?"

The other two grinned.

OoOoO

"Come and sit with us just this once," Naruto pleaded, "I won't ever make you do it again I promise."

"Fine," Sasuke sighed, "But you owe me. Come on Nico."

"Do I have to?" she whined, "Oh look there's Diran, I'll go sit with him."

"Nico he's coming over here, he can come too," Sasuke told her.

"Why are you guys so resistant?" Naruto asked, a little hurt.

They exchanged glances.

"No reason," Sasuke said innocently.

"Its nothing to do with you Naruto, don't worry," Nico said uncomfortably.

"Hey guys," Diran greeted them with a grin, "Where we sitting?"

"Come on," Naruto said grabbing Sasuke's wrist and dragging him over to the table where Sakura, Ryo, Amaya and Dan were sitting, "Hey guys."

"Hey Naruto," Amaya said quietly.

"Hey mans," Dan said lazily, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Oh hi Sasuke," Amaya said sitting up a little, "Haven't seen you for a while."

"Hn," Sasuke replied flopping down and pulling Nico down beside him.

"Nico isn't it?" Amaya asked in a strained tone.

"Mmm hmm," Nico said quickly taking a bite of something unidentifiable but obviously involving a lot of chocolate.

"Amaya, long time no see," Diran greeted the girl as he sat down.

"Oh hi Diran," Amaya smiled.

Sakura and the others had been watching the display silently.

"Thanks for last night Nico, it was awesome fun," Sakura smiled, "You should come over some time."

"Thanks Sakura that would be fun," she replied somewhat triumphantly.

Sasuke sat ignoring everyone while he ate. Naruto looked over at him, a little worried.

Everyone was silent for the rest of lunch.

OoOoO

"What happened to you?" Naruto asked angrily, "What happened to super social Sasuke?"

The Uchiha shrugged, "I didn't feel like it."

"What do you mean you didn't feel like it?" Naruto spat, "What is wrong with you?"

Sasuke pushed the blonde up against the wall, his hands resting on either side of his head.

He leaned in until their lips were almost touching and breathily moved his lips to the other boy's ear, "I just don't like her."

He walked away while Naruto tried to calm down, his whole body was tense and his mind raced.

He took a deep breath and walked towards his locker.

OoOoO

"I've never seen you like that," Sasuke observed, "You were acting like… a girl. A cranky, bitchy teenage girl."

Nico leaned against her locker, "She always brings out the worst in me."

"Don't let her get to you, you're no fun when you're being normal," he advised.

"Did you know she used to go out with Diran?" Nico asked in a dead tone.

"No," he replied looking side ways at her as they walked to next class.

"Well she did, it was a long time ago but I never want it to happen again," she said grimly.

"You like him don't you?" Sasuke asked softly.

"I- well kinda… I guess… a bit," she stumbled.

"I won't say anything, don't worry," he smiled, "You've got that much blackmail material on me that it would be pointless."

"We're hopeless aren't we?" she laughed, "Jealous over the same girl."

"At least we aren't interested in the same guy," he grinned.

OoOoO

"So why did they break up?" Sasuke asked curiously as they walked home.

"Diran broke it off, he didn't think it was working," Nico explained kicking a stone along, "That's what worries me. It would be fine if she had ended it. That's why I was so glad when you guys showed up, I thought one of you might take her off the market. Then I got to know you and realised you never would and now I don't want Naruto to for your sake. Freaking homo," she grinned.

"We're both in the awkward position of trying to move from friendspace to relationship status," Sasuke said almost wistfully, "At least you don't have to deal with sexuality, I don't even know if Naruto is interested in guys."

"Yeah I feel for you Sassi, well this is where I leave you. Good luck with blondie," she grinned and turned down a different street.

"Ah shaddap," Sasuke said rolling his eyes.

OoOoO

Naruto was lying on his stomach doing homework on his bed when Sasuke got home.

The Uchiha decided he had had enough. He strode over to the bed and grabbed the blonde's wrists flipping him over and pinning him to the bed. He kneeled on either side of his legs.

He leaned down and brushed his nose against Naruto's ear.

"Naruto in case you haven't already guessed, I'm gay. Or at least bisexual. I know this because I think I might love you," Sasuke whispered running his nose down the other boy's cheek, Naruto let out an involuntary whimper, "I just thought you might need to know that in case you ever consider climbing into bed with me again."

He left a lingering kiss on the blonde's lips and went downstairs to do his homework.

* * *

**Another nice image I thought you might like to be left with.**

**Anyway please review! They are the high points of my life, favouriting is nice but I like to know what you think!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey sorry for the delays in updating but it is incredibly difficult with no internet. As usual please enjoy and review!**

* * *

Naruto's mind and hormones whirled. He resisted the urge to run after Sasuke and jump him on the stairs.

Who knew the Uchiha could be...sexy.

Totally and utterly sexy. He closed his eyes and remembered the feeling of Sasuke's nose and hot breath trailing down his cheek and shivered. He was so intense.

And it was fun.

OoOoO

"Sasuke," Naruto whispered as he shivered, he had forgotten to find another blanket in the light.

"What is it dobe?" the Uchiha replied sleepily.

"I'm cold teme," the blonde whined.

The other boy sighed, "I'll bet I could warm you up."

"Would you mind if I-"

"Of course I wouldn't but remember what I said," Sasuke warned him, "If I molest you it's your own fault."

Naruto climbed into Sasuke's bed once more draping his blanket over the top.

He relaxed into the warmth, "How can you possibly be so warm?"

"Happy thoughts," Sasuke grinned into the darkness, 3...2...1.

"Hey! Pervert!" the blonde said hitting him.

The brunette wrapped his arms around Naruto and held him so he couldn't move his arms, "Hey if you interpreted that badly it's your own fault...pervert."

The blonde head-butted him, "Goodnight teme."

OoOoO

When Naruto woke Sasuke was sitting on the edge of the bed brushing the blonde's hair back from his face smiling.

"Sasuke," Naruto said in a warning tone.

The smile faded, "Naruto can I ask you something?" Sasuke asked seriously.

"I suppose," the blonde replied a bit reluctantly.

"So far we have slept together about three times, kissed I don't even remember how many times and practically made out once and you've never tried to fight me off," the brunette paused, "Okay well maybe that once in the woods...anyway, will you please be my boyfriend?"

Naruto sat bolt upright, "Will I what?"

"Will you please be my boyfriend? I...I really like you Naruto, maybe even lo-"

"No! You can't, I mean I can't, we can't," Naruto exclaimed somewhat wild-eyed.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked, hurt.

"I...I don't know we just..." Naruto ran out of the room trying to hide his tears.

Sasuke lay back on his bed and put his arms under his head, "Well that wasn't what I expected."

OoOoO

"What did you do to him Sasuke?" Iruka demanded accusingly.

"Tried to tell him I loved him but he cut me off," the Uchiha replied calmly.

Sakura choked on her cereal and Iruka spluttered, "Why would you do that?"

Sasuke fixed him with a look, "Because I do."

OoOoO

"Naruto!" Iruka called banging on the bedroom door, "The others have all left. You'd better hurry or you'll be late."

"M'not going," the blonde mumbled from under his blanket.

"What do you mean?" Iruka asked opening the door and taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I can't...Sasuke..."

"I know but why can't you just tell him you're not interested?" Iruka asked comfortingly.

There was a pause from under the blanket.

"Because you are," the teacher surmised.

"I don't know..." was the muffled reply.

"I'm sorry Naruto but I'm really confused," Iruka told him.

"I've...never been told that by anyone, no one has ever told me they…they love me and... I don't know, I panicked..." the blonde said sitting up under the blanket.

"Oh... right," Iruka said awkwardly.

"And I don't want things to be awkward and I have to share a room with him and it's going to be really weird and-" Naruto mumbled.

"Why don't you invite someone to sleep over then? Invite another guy over and he can sleep on the floor in here so it won't be as awkward," the young teacher interrupted, wanting so badly to cure the sadness in the blonde teen's voice.

He slowly emerged from under the blanket, "That might work," he said thoughtfully, "Sounds like fun."

"Now come on you'd better get to school so you can invite someone. I'll write you a note okay?" he said smiling with relief.

OoOoO

Sasuke went back to his own table with Nico and Diran at lunch and Naruto didn't join them. He sat with Amaya, Sakura, Ryo and Dan.

"Hey Dan, did you want to come sleep over tonight?" Naruto asked cheerfully.

The boy shrugged, "Yeah cool, sounds like fun. That okay with the teacherators?"

"Yeah it was Iruka's idea," the blonde said with a grin.

"Does that mean we can too?" Sakura asked raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno, ask Iruka," Naruto said uncomfortably, he had a feeling Iruka hadn't thought of that.

"I will," she said thoughtfully, packing her lunch up and leaving.

"I hope she realises that even if she is allowed to she won't be allowed a guy over," Naruto said uncomfortably.

"I'm sure she's got something up her sleeve," Ryo smiled.

OoOoO

"Iruka can I ask something?" Sakura interrupted the teacher's lunch.

"Um, sure Sakura have a seat," Iruka replied gesturing to another empty seat, somewhat surprised at her appearance.

"Can Sasuke and I have someone sleep over too?" she asked taking a seat.

"What? Um why?" Iruka asked hesitantly, he hadn't thought about it. Oddly enough he wasn't used to having three teenagers.

"Well it doesn't seem fair if only Naruto gets to have someone over," she said very seriously.

The young teacher sighed, "I suppose I have to let you don't I?"

"Pretty much," she smiled, "Well the guys can all sleep down in the lounge room and us girls can sleep in the boy's room."

Iruka thought about it, it accomplished exactly what he wanted, perhaps even better than the original idea. If there were four boys there would be no awkwardness or weirdness between them.

"That's actually a good idea," Iruka smiled.

"Oh course it is, I thought of it," Sakura grinned.

OoOoO

"Sasuke! Wait up!" Sakura called out to the dark haired boy.

"Hn?" Sasuke replied stopping.

"We're allowed to invite someone to sleep over tonight," she told him grinning.

"And?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well I'm only allowed to have a girl and you're only allowed to have a guy so I thought maybe you could invite Ryo for me and I'll invite Nico for you," she explained, almost jumping around.

"I suppose I could, but why would I want Nico over?" Sasuke asked her, wondering if he could get something extra out of the deal.

"Because she's not Amaya," the pink haired girl told him evilly, "And it's either Nico or Amaya. Your choice."

"Nico," he said immediately, "Definitely Nico."

"So are you going to invite Ryo or did you want to invite Nico and tell her what's happening?"

"Well…" Sasuke thought about it, "Actually I might invite Ryo. I think he's in my next class which I'm late for."

"Right sorry, and thanks," Sakura said jiggling in excitement.

OoOoO

"Hey Ryo," Sasuke said as they both walked out into the hall after last class.

"What? Oh hi Sasuke what's up?" Ryo asked slightly surprised.

"We're having a sleepover type thing tonight and I was wondering if you were interested," Sasuke said innocently, Ryo looked so wary that he burst out laughing, "I made a deal with Sakura, she'll invite Nico if I invite you. Don't worry you'd be her guest not mine, you just have to sleep in the guy's room that's all."

"Oh," he said grinning, "That's alright then, no offence or anything."

"Nah none taken, I just wanted to see your expression if it was me asking rather than her," the Uchiha chuckled, "Well I'll see you tonight then."

"Yeah see ya," the other brunette replied shaking his head.

OoOoO

"Hey Nico," Sakura chirped.

The blue haired girl looked up from the desk she was currently banging her head on.

"Oh hi Sakura," she said putting a hand on her forehead, "Ouch."

"What's wrong?" she raising an eyebrow, a little concerned at the head banging.

"I may have sort of left my homework at home and brought what appears to be my little cousin's colouring book instead," she said wincing.

"Bugger eh?" she smiled sympathetically.

"Yeah it wouldn't be so bad if it was art or something but it was chemistry, and I don't think they'll accept a "Hello Kitty" colouring page as homework," Nico said resting her forehead on the desk.

"Strangely enough," Sakura replied giggling, "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Nope, this is proof homework is pointless, I actually did the work but I'm going to get in trouble anyway therefore I am no longer going to do it," she said somewhat piously.

"Well then how would you like to sleep over?" she asked laughing, "Naruto is asking Dan and Sasuke is asking Ryo."

"And the reason Sasuke isn't just asking me himself?" Nico asked raising an eyebrow.

"I think he wanted to mess with Ryo a little," Sakura admitted.

"Yeah that'd be right," she rolled her eyes, "So what does Iruka think about this?"

"Well he let Naruto so he couldn't very well say no to us," Sakura grinned.

"He obviously is not used to kids," Nico said shaking her head, "My mum would have said we could, just on different nights."

"Yeah that probably would have smarter but I don't think he thought of that," she said ruefully.

"Yeah going from being a single man to mother of three must be quite a leap for him," Nico said.

"I never thought of it that way…although he makes a surprisingly good mother," both girls laughed, "Well I'd better go. I'll see you later."

"Righto, did you want me to bring anything?" she asked.

"Um just pillow and clothes and stuff I guess," Sakura said thoughtfully, "I think we'll be in the boy's beds so we should be pretty right."

"Ew," Nico wrinkled up her nose, "Can we change the sheets?"

Sakura laughed, "I'm sure we can manage that."

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**Reviews help my internet get fixed quicker. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Yeah I know this one has been a while coming but I have been working so I haven't had much of a chance to work on it properly. I have the net back so I can upload when I have chapters ready thank goodness, and thank you for all your lovely reviews. You might have noticed that, yes I do read every single one of them and I love replying. **

** Now seeing as Christmas is coming I want to dedicate this to all of the people who have reviewed to any of my fics, you guys are the reason this is still being posted. And I also want to gift this to one of my favourite pervs, Mors. You know you rock.**

**And on with the story! **

* * *

"I'm home!" Iruka called out as he carried the groceries into the kitchen.

Sakura ran up and hugged him.

"Sakura what's wrong?" he asked slightly alarmed, one crisis a day was enough.

She pulled away and smiled, "I just wanted to say thank you."

"Well like you said I couldn't really say no if I-"

"No not for that, although that is awesome, thank you," she amended before continuing, "I mean thank you for everything. For coming on this mission and taking care of us. It must be hard to suddenly have to look after three teenagers and another adult but I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate it and so do the others I'm sure."

Iruka smiled and hugged the pink haired girl back, "Thank you Sakura, it's nice to be appreciated."

OoOoO

_Ring Ring_

"Hello Sakura speaking," the girl answered as the boys worked on their homework.

"_Heya Sakura its Nico. I have a problem."_

"Oh hey Nico what's up?" Sasuke mouthed the words 'what's up' and Sakura shrugged.

"_My cousin is over for the weekend and she could only get here today and Mum says she has to come too or I can't come,"_ Nico said miserably, _"I know it's asking a lot but-"_

"I'll check and call you back in a few minutes," Sakura calmed the girl as she hung up.

"Iruka," she called sweetly.

"Yes?" he asked warily poking his head into the room.

"That was Nico, her cousin came over and she isn't allowed to come tonight unless her cousin comes too," Sakura explained, "So is it alright if her cousin comes over also?"

"Sakura I said you could have one person over each, I can't let you have two people-"

"They don't mind do you guys?" she glared at them.

"I don't mind," Sasuke said honestly.

"I suppose," Naruto said reading over a problem and sitting as far away from Sasuke as possible.

"And besides Ria let all of us come over even when it was just Sasuke and Naruto who were invited so it wouldn't be very fair to turn her down when-"

"Fine," Iruka said rubbing his temples, "I was never going to win this argument was I?"

"Iruka, I'm female, there is no way you were ever going to leave this room without agreeing with me," she grinned impishly.

She picked up the phone and dialled as Iruka left the room shaking his head.

"Hey Nico its Sakura. Yeah that's fine. Ok well see you soon."

"Well if you'll excuse me I just have to go get changed," Sakura said looking at the clock.

"Sakura they won't be here for at least another hour," Naruto pointed out.

"I might be cutting it close" she mused, "But you guys can answer the door if I'm busy can't you?"

"Of course," Sasuke hid a smile, "But you'd better hurry."

The pink haired girl ran up the stairs and Sasuke burst out laughing, "I will never understand girls."

"How can you do it?" Naruto asked looking down.

"How can I do what?" the brunette asked continuing his homework.

"How can you pretend everything is normal? That nothing happened?" the blonde asked clenching his fists.

Sasuke reached over and lifted the boy's chin up and looked into his eyes, "Would it change anything either way?"

Naruto looked away, "No, not really."

"Well then there's no point in moping then is there? However if you decide to change your mind the offer is still there," he said packing up his books and starting up the stairs, he turned back, "Oh and Naruto? I love you."

The blonde turned red as the Uchiha walked up the stairs. How could he say something so easily like that? So casually. Naruto felt an odd tingling in the pit of his stomach, how did he feel about it?

Hungry.

He walked over to the fridge and pulled out the milk, as he lifted the carton to his mouth he remembered the last time.

"_Naruto I hope you aren't going to put that back in the fridge now that you've contaminated it."_

"_I'll leave the two of you to work out your sexual frustration."_

Naruto put the carton back away. Sure he liked Sasuke as a friend, his best friend, he'd never enjoyed being around someone so much. But was it deeper? He had certainly felt something very strong when Sasuke had told him he was gay…

And hell he'd let the guy kiss him enough times. He could easily have fought back but he never had, but why?

OoOoO

_Ding Dong_

"Hey come on in," Naruto greeted Ryo, "Dan's already here, he's in the lounge room with Sasuke. Sakura is still getting ready I think, she's been upstairs for a little over-"

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled running down the stairs she got to the door and hit him over the head, "Idiot, you're not supposed to say that!"

Naruto clutched his head and walked back to the lounge room.

"Hi Sakura, thanks for inviting me," Ryo smiled holding out a single red rose for her.

She blushed and took it composing herself she waggled her finger at the boy, "And I didn't invite you remember?"

"Of course, remind me to thank Sasuke later," he murmured.

OoOoO

_Ding Dong_

_Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding-_

"Nico! Stop it!" Sasuke said yanking the door open.

The girl grinned guiltily with her finger on the way to the button. Quickly before Sasuke could step in she pushed the button once more and stepped aside,

"You remember my cousin Kae?"

Sasuke eyed her warily and she blushed, "Nice to meet you Sasuke"

"Nice to meet you Kae," he said opening the door wider and letting them past.

"Nico," he growled warningly low enough that her cousin wouldn't hear.

She mouthed 'I'll explain', "So where is everyone?"

"They're all in the lounge room," he said leading them to where the others were sitting watching some random movie Dan had brought, "Kae this is Naruto, Dan, Sakura and Ryo. Guys this is Kae, Nico's cousin."

"Hey Sassi come show me where your bathroom is," Nico said dragging him out of the room, "Now what's wrong?"

"Isn't she the one you were asking me out for?" he growled as they walked up the stairs.

"Yeah but she was single then, a lot happens in a week," she shrugged, "And besides you're really not that desirable."

"Thank god!" he exhaled.

"Although I told her about you and Naruto and she seemed excited," the girl grinned wickedly, "Now go away I need to use the toilet."

Excited? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Sasuke walked back down to the others.

"Anybody hungry? Iruka bought a crapload of junk food," the brunette said lazily.

"Yeah go grab some for us would you Sassi?" Naruto said smirking.

"Alright dobe," the boy said emphasising the word.

He went and grabbed a few of the bags from the kitchen and threw one to Dan and another to Ryo. He went to sit down and Kae moved over making room between her and Naruto for him.

He sighed, so she was going to be like Nico then. Greeeaaaat.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed (or even if you didn't) please review and let me know. I can't improve if you don't tell me how. And besides if you review that will mean this chapter is also dedicated to you! (clever no?)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Ok so I know its been a while. I have been away on holidays and not at a computer so I couldn't do anything but anyway here is a new chapter for all of you. Thank you so much for all the awesome reviews I forgot to say something about reaching 100 reviews. I love you all so much!**

**I hope this one doesn't let you all down  
**

* * *

"I hope you kids don't mind but we don't have enough chairs for all of you so you might have to eat in the lounge room and I thought we'd just get some pizza or something," Iruka said from the doorway.

Dan grinned, "I for one don't mind. I'm quite happy to sit on the couch and eat pizza."

"Yeah I think I can handle that," Kae grinned.

"Ok well if you guys just write down what you want and I'll go order," Iruka told them passing a notebook and pen to Kae who was sitting closest to the door.

"Can you get a ramen pizza?" Naruto asked when the notebook reached him.

"Nope, trust me I've tried," Nico winked at him, "Ask Sassi to make one for you."

Naruto blushed furiously, "I wouldn't eat something he made."

"Well dobe, unlike you, back home I actually used to cook for myself," Sasuke said 'accidentally' brushing one hand against his leg as he changed his order.

The blonde opened his mouth to talk but was interrupted, "I mean something other than instant ramen. And I didn't have Iruka taking me out for food all the time either."

"That's because I knew you'd eat normally. If I never took him out for food he would never have eaten anything other than instant ramen. Are you guys finished yet?" Iruka asked popping his head in again.

"Yeah I think so," Sasuke said passing the notebook to Kae who passed it on to the teacher.

Naruto sat and pouted, "You're so cute sometimes dobe," Sasuke said leaning in and nipping at the pouting lips.

When he pulled back the room was silent and then all three girls squealed.

Iruka very quickly left the room.

Dan threw another chocolate up in the air and caught it in his mouth.

Ryo looked shocked.

Naruto turned an even darker shade of red.

And Sasuke looked altogether too pleased with himself.

"Sasuke I was going to wait until dinner to tell them," Naruto whined.

"Well now is as good a time as any," the Uchiha replied, obviously confused but playing along.

Naruto took a deep breath, "Well you may have already guessed but, we're… together."

Sasuke looked as surprised as everyone when Naruto grabbed his chin and gave him a quick kiss.

Sakura was showing signs of an approaching nose bleed.

Kae squealed and hugged the closest thing, which happened to be Sasuke.

Nico jumped up and whirled around, "OH MY GOD! Since when?"

Ryo wisely kept quiet and handed Sakura a tissue.

"I knew it," Dan said calmly tossing up another chocolate and catching it expertly between his teeth.

"You what?" Naruto said surprised while Nico grabbed Sasuke for details.

"I just had a feeling," Dan shrugged again, "Think quick dude."

He threw a chocolate to Naruto who was still lost for words.

"Congrats bud," the boy grinned as the blonde ate the chocolate, "Ya homo."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "You're lucky I have a boyfriend Dan or I would be so tackling you right now."

"Boyfriends!" Sakura giggled, she grabbed Kae and they danced around.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment, "I would hope I'm better competition than that dobe."

"Who knows what might happen teme?" the blonde said innocently, widening his clear blue eyes unleashing their devastating power on the Uchiha in a way he never had before.

"Well I'll just have to do something to keep you then won't I?" Sasuke almost purred and Nico grabbed her nose.

"Don't worry you can have him," Dan said charitably, "No offence or anything mate but you don't have the right equipment for me."

"Ok I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Iruka said walking in, "Dinner is here come out and grab some."

"Sassi you haven't told me anything!" Nico said childishly stomping her feet.

"That's cuz he doesn't know anything," Naruto winked as they grabbed plates.

"What?" Nico asked surprised.

Sakura and Ryo made their way out to the yard to eat privately and Sasuke wanted nothing more than to drag the blonde boy away and question him intensely. When had he changed his mind? And more importantly why?

But instead he just picked up a plate and grabbed some food just like everyone else and walked back to the lounge room where the others had left Naruto alone on one of the couches so the Uchiha joined him.

"Has anything else weird happened at your school yet?" Kae asked casually taking another bite.

Nico gesticulated wildly at her cousin.

"Uh Nico, generally you have to be behind a person for that to work," Sasuke said lazily rolling his eyes as he finished his dinner. He put his plate on the floor and laid down until his head was in the blonde boy's lap, he felt Naruto's muscles tense and inwardly grinned.

"What weird stuff?" he asked innocently.

"I'm trying to eat here teme," Naruto said warningly and the cousins exchanged knowing glances.

"Well before you guys came people were disappearing. Some reappeared with no memory of what happened, some with no memory at all and some just never reappeared," Dan said in a chilling voice.

"Yeah but nothing has happened for a few weeks now so maybe it's gone," Nico butted in nervously.

"What has?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide.

"Whatever it is that is inhabiting the school and feeding on the students!" Dan chuckled evilly.

"Hmm on second thoughts teme, I'll stick with you. He scares me," Naruto grinned and Dan grinned back taking another bite of his pizza.

Sasuke looked up from his vantage point, "What and I don't?"

The blonde stared at the brunette head in his lap, "Umm…no comment?" he replied sheepishly.

"Good move dobe," the Uchiha said dryly as he wrapped one hand around the boy's leg and, rolling sideways, rested his cheek on it. He almost smirked at the very noticeable tensing of muscles.

"So is there really something living in the school?" Naruto asked, his eyes almost shining with excitement.

"Nothing has been proved," Nico said glaring at Dan, "It might not even be real."

"Oh come on! Even you don't believe that," Dan scoffed, "Too many people have disappeared for it not to be real."

"Yeah but it's never happened while they were at school, you can't just connect it with the school like that," the blue haired girl argued.

"It's the only thing all of the victims have had in common; they have always been connected to the school. Students, teachers and cleaners. You can't ignore that, haven't you ever watched an American crime show?" Dan countered disbelievingly.

"Yeah but its all just speculation, you can't prove-"

"Yeah and you can't prove its not!" Dan said petulantly poking his tongue out, "I need more pizza."

"Grab me some too man," Naruto said lazily, "I can't move."

"Get your boyfriend out of your lap and get it yourself!" the boy fumed walking out.

"Bastard," Naruto said grinning, "Get off, I'm hungry. And while you're at it get me some pizza too!"

Sasuke sat up somewhat reluctantly, "Get it yourself, that stuff is bad enough for you already without being lazy."

"Oh I'm sure we'll get plenty of exercise," the blonde drawled winking, "Anybody want anything while I'm gone?"

"Yes please," Nico piped up, "Can you grab some more for me? I don't think I should go into the kitchen yet. I think I might have annoyed him," she grinned cheekily.

"Eh sure," Naruto shrugged grabbing her plate.

"Oh hey, can you take my plate out for me love?" Sasuke asked holding his plate out innocently with his head hanging upside down off the couch.

The blonde glared as he grabbed the plate, "Don't push it Uchiha."

"Love you too dobe," he replied fluttering his eyelashes. He chuckled as the boy stomped out of the room, "I love doing that."

"So?" Nico prodded, "When did this happen Sassi?"

"I can honestly say that I knew nothing about it until he told you guys," Sasuke said sitting up and rubbing his head, "He told me no when I asked him. I really want to know when and why he changed his mind actually."

"Wow Dan reacted pretty badly to your doubt!" Kae said her eyes wide, "I mean why would he react that strongly to it? It's crazy!"

"No that was my fault," Nico said guiltily, "I forgot one of his friends vanished. This was about three months ago. I know he seems pretty laid back but I'll bet his still hurting. That's why he clings to Naruto so closely now, Krin disappeared and he couldn't fit back in without him. I should really learn to talk without putting my foot in it."

"If you could do that you wouldn't be Nico," Kae said gently, "Its part of what makes you so endearing."

"To some people anyway," Sasuke muttered looking around innocently.

Nico punched him in the shoulder, "I heard that Sassi!"

OoOoO

Naruto walked over to Dan who had taken a seat at the teacher-free kitchen table.

"Hey man, what's wrong?" he asked taking a seat.

"I thought we were getting along really well. And she's not too bad looking and she's definitely fun and all and then she…" he trailed off and looked at his clenched fists in his lap, "How could she be such a bitch? I really hate her right now!"

"Nico?" Naruto asked confusedly, "What do you mean? Everybody has doubts about things like that."

When Dan looked up there were tears in his eyes, "Naruto whatever that thing is, it took my best friend. I know it did."

OoOoO

"Kakashi," Iruka said, sitting on the floor marking homework.

"What love?" the jounin asked looking up from a rather dog-eared orange book.

"Do you think we should be doing anything?" he asked worriedly.

"Well I can think of a few things…" he replied eyes glinting mischievously.

"I'm serious! I mean, they were kissing and if they're not together by now I'm sure they will be soon. We are talking about two hormonally charged teenage boys here," the brunette man stressed.

"We could install a hidden video camera in their bedroom…" his partner mused.

"Kakashi!" Iruka exclaimed angrily.

"I'm kidding, or thinking out loud, whatever you call it. I wouldn't do that," he sat down and pulled his lover into his lap, "I know that we're on a tight budget."

Iruka elbowed him in the stomach and stormed out.

"What did I say?"

* * *

**Hey thanks for reading, please review and let me know what you thought!  
**


	21. Chapter 21

**Ok here it is, the new one! Woo! I can't be bothered to say much more than work sucks :D hence this chapter not being as good as previous ones.. I'm sorry, I really am...**

* * *

"Wait hold up, you like Nico?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Dude I just told you my best friend was kidnapped slash murdered and that is all you react to?" Dan asked in disbelief.

"I'm sorry I got distracted, I have a short attention span at night. Have you ever noticed how your forearms are less tanned than the other side? Maybe I should try and tan my forearms," he mused.

"Naruto you always have a short attention span," he sighed, "Come on let's go back and eat."

'_Sorry bud,'_ Naruto thought, _'I'm not good with being serious, try Sasuke.'_

"Finally! What took so long? Did you have to cook it too blondie?" Nico almost tackled him in the rush to grab her pizza, "Sorry I couldn't think up a better nickname by the way."

"That's alright I don't mind. You're welcome by the way," he added and the girl looked up guiltily with a mouthful of pizza. Dan sat down sulkily and ignored her, not even mentioning her current resemblance to a chipmunk.

"Why don't you just call him dobe? I do, or baka or usuratonachi even," Sasuke offered helpfully.

"Oh no Sassi, I couldn't steal your pet names. Thanks by the way Naruto," Nico grinned.

"Come on teme, stop annoying people," the blonde said patting his empty lap. The Uchiha grinned and laid back down.

"And anyway I wasn't annoying anyone," Sasuke said looking up into the cerulean eyes.

"Except me," Naruto added kissing the tip of his nose.

"Well yeah but that's a given," he agreed wrinkling up his nose, "Ew pizza juice."

"You know you love it," the blonde dismissed.

"I love something but it's not the pizza juice," Sasuke murmured grabbing his boyfriend's shirt and pulling him down for a quick kiss. He released him and licked his lips, "Although I could grow to enjoy it," he conceded.

"Um excuse me but I'm trying to eat here. How would you feel if I grabbed Nico and started making out?" he realised what he'd said as soon as the words left his mouth, "Or Kae or someone," he added hastily turning red.

"Hmm that really depends who the someone was," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"I wasn't serious!" Dan said rolling his eyes, "Moron."

"Hey I have a question. How come you girls go crazy every time we do anything but you don't react to Torya and Jules?" Naruto asked the cousins.

Nico and Kae looked at each other, "Eww!" they said together.

"Rae he's my brother!" the blue haired girl said scrunching up her face.

"Incest is not cool," Kae added, "And besides he's not hot."

"I don't know, he's not bad looking," Naruto said thoughtfully, "Nothing on Sasuke-teme though. Rae?"

"It's kinda short for ramen, or ramen without the m and n anyway. And like all the best nicknames it seems to come out of nowhere," she grinned, "Totally random."

"I suppose I can handle that," the blonde decided.

"It's very user friendly. Hey you know we never finished our sparring the other day," Nico said suggestively, "We could go outside now…"

"I don't know that Iruka would let us, we don't really have lights in the back yard yet," Sasuke said uncomfortably, "We could just finish it tomorrow at school though."

"Yeah we should, I feel like I haven't done anything since we got here," Naruto agreed.

"I noticed you were developing a bit of a gut," the brunette boy in his lap said playfully poking him.

Naruto punched him and the Uchiha rolled onto the floor.

"Am not," he muttered childishly.

Sasuke stood up slowly rubbing his head, "Although we could continue tonight," he muttered glaring at the blonde.

"Oh no, I'm not looking after you guys if you get hurt," Sakura argued as she entered the room with Ryo, "You get enough injuries without adding darkness into the equation!"

"Besides Sassi, revenge is a dish best served cold," Nico grinned.

The word jolted through his brain. Revenge. That's what he was meant to be doing. How had he gotten so sidetracked? He was supposed to be training to kill his brother not having sleepovers and making out with his…boyfriend.

"Excuse me a moment," the Uchiha said in a half-strangled voice. He walked up the stairs and closed the door to the bathroom sitting on the edge of the bath tub.

What the hell was he doing here? All this time he had been trying not to make new bonds, trying not to need anyone. He hadn't wanted anything that could be used against him, he hadn't wanted any one to be hurt because of him. And now he had done the worst thing imaginable.

He had put the one person he truly cared about in a position where he could be hurt. Where he could be damaged even further. It had been hard enough for the boy to hear those three little words already, without him making things worse.

"Sasuke?" Naruto knocked softly at the door, "Are you alright?"

The brunette forgot where he was sitting and leaned back to rest his head on the wall falling loudly into the bath tub.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said panicked. He quickly opened the door and ran in looking around wildly.

"Calm down dobe," the Uchiha laughed, trying to get out, "I just fell in is all. Give us a hand will you?"

The blonde grinned embarrassedly, "You worried me."

He grabbed the pale hands and pulled the boy up into his arms, the brunette stiffened.

Naruto pulled away and looked at him, "I thought this is what you wanted."

"I did, I mean I do but…" Sasuke trailed off looking away.

"It's Itachi isn't it?" he said sadly grabbing the Uchiha's chin and lifting his head so he could see the dark eyes.

"Yes," he whispered softly.

"I thought it might have been, as soon as I heard the word revenge. Please Sasuke don't let that get in the way of your life," Naruto pleaded.

"It is my life," Sasuke replied deadly.

"No it's not! Not anymore!" Naruto said desperately, he leaned their foreheads together and closed his eyes, "You're so much more than that. Itachi tried to weaken you by killing your emotions, without passion you'll never get stronger. Feelings can spur you on to greatness. Please don't go away. I… I love you."

The brunette heard the emotion throbbing in the blonde's voice and could feel his defences crumbling into nothing.

It took a moment for the actual words to register, "You do?"

"Of course I do you absolute bastard. Don't you dare do this to me!" Naruto told him, his eyes full of unshed tears.

Sasuke tilted his chin up and their lips met. The kiss was soft and tentative, still very new and unsure. The boys pulled apart and Nartuo searched the Uchiha's face for some sort of sign. The blonde pulled him into a tight hug.

"Thank you," he whispered softly.

Sasuke renewed the kiss in answer, once more he licked at the lips and tongues met in fierce battle to outmanoeuvre each other. The Uchiha moved his hands to stroke the scarred cheeks with his thumbs and Naruto dropped his arms and looped his fingers through Sasuke's belt loops.

He almost grinned when he felt every muscle in his boyfriend's body tense, he felt the Uchiha growl and the corners of his mouth curled upwards. The blonde pulled away.

"We'd better go back down to the others," he said, grinning yet reluctant.

Sasuke growled, "Fuck the others."

"Are you sure about that?" he asked teasingly, "I thought you'd get jealous."

The brunette was not amused, "Tell them to get their own."

He leaned in again but Naruto lifted one hand to hold him back.

"Now don't be like that, they're our guests," he put his finger on the pouting lips, "We have to go back down before boredom breaks out."

He felt the growl emerging again and pulled on the belt loop wrapping his free arm around Sasuke's waist so their entire bodies were together. Naruto gave his boyfriend a quick kiss and walked out.

"And you call me a bastard," Sasuke muttered darkly.

OoOoO

"They've been gone a fair while," Nico commented.

"What do you think they're doing?" Kae said without thinking.

"Do you really want to know?" Dan asked grinning.

Everyone in the room went red except for Dan who just laughed, "Well you asked. And they are teenage boys…"

"Well yeah, but they wouldn't…not with guests downstairs," Kae said slowly.

"Sassi would," Nico said flatly.

"I wouldn't think Naruto would," Sakura said.

"Why not?"

"He's not that silly and he has more social sense than that," she commented. Kae and Nico waved wildly pointing at the door. She turned to see Naruto in the doorway.

He grinned, "I love how you all assume I'm more mature and have better self control than the bastard."

"Only in some areas dobe," Sasuke purred snaking his arms around the boy's waist.

"I said not now teme," Naruto admonished smacking the hands away, "Just for that you can sit on the floor," he told him taking the last available seat on the couch next to Sakura.

"Fine then be like that," the Uchiha pouted sitting at the blonde's feet.

"Well it's getting a bit late, maybe we should head upstairs," Sakura suggested standing up, "We pushed the boy's beds together and changed the sheets so we can sleep in there."

"Where are we sleeping then?" Ryo asked.

"I'm guessing on the floor," Dan said yawning.

"How do you always do that?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I'm just that good," he replied grinning lazily.

"Yeah well anyway we have the mattress off Sakura's bed plus two spare mattresses, we just have to grab them from the next room and put sheets on them," Naruto explained.

Dan and Ryo eyed each other suspiciously.

"Naruto and I can share if you like," Sasuke laughed.

* * *

**Ok well I am sure I had something to say but I have forgotten it... **

**Anyway thanks for all the awesome reviews and please feel free to keep reviewing :D **


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry it has been a while but I have been quite busy. I know its not as good as previous chapters but I am kinda hoping to make up for that in the next one. I hope you enjoy it anyway **

* * *

"Truth or dare?"

Nico groaned, "Aww come on! It's too late to do any dares, we might as well just play truth."

Sakura grinned and closed the door, "How about we make it truth or kiss Naruto then?"

Kae grinned, "I love it!"

"But I don't want to kiss Naruto," Nico whined.

"Neither do I," Sakura said.

"Me either which is the point," Kae explained rolling her eyes.

"But I don't want to know," her cousin said pulling the covers over her head as she sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed.

"Well I do, I don't know anything about you guys," Sakura pouted, "Pretty please?"

There was a pause.

"Is she using puppy dog eyes?" Nico asked warily.

"Maybe, come out and find out for yourself," Kae said innocently.

"Oh no, that means she is doesn't it? No no no no no!"

"But Niicccoooo!" Sakura pleaded hugging the figure, "Just for me?"

"Okay fine," she sighed.

"Really?"

"No."

"Well you're no fun," Sakura pouted.

"I know, absolutely none at all," came the muffled reply.

"No one could be so against it unless…" Kae grinned evilly.

The pink haired girl nodded in understanding, "Unless they had a really big secret. What kind of secret would be that big do you think?"

"A secret crush?" Kae speculated.

"A secret boyfriend?"

"A secret girlfriend?" Kae giggled.

"Crush on a teacher?"

"Will you two please stop coming up with stupid theories?" Nico grumbled.

"Will you please play with us?" Sakura countered.

There was a sigh from the deep, "Fine."

OoOoO

"Sasuke and I can set this all up if you like. You guys can go and get changed and brush teeth if you like. If you go upstairs and turn left the first door on the left is the bathroom and Sakura's room is at the end of the hall," Naruto directed, "One of you can change in there if you want to."

"You can, I'd feel awkward changing in your girlfriend's room," Dan told Ryo as he grabbed his stuff and headed up.

"Good," the boy replied climbing the stairs.

The two remaining boys made the beds.

"Hey teme?"

"Mm?"

"Can you please wear a shirt tonight?" Naruto asked blushing.

"Why?" the Uchiha asked smirking.

"Because you might make things uncomfortable. Please? Just for tonight?" the blonde pleaded.

Sasuke chuckled, "Sorry dobe, all my shirts are in our room where all the girls are sleeping."

How did he manage to make the words 'our room' sound so dirty? Naruto wondered, his face discovering a new shade of red.

"Can't you wear that one?"

"A button down shirt? Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that would be?" the brunette asked.

"Can't you just get one out of our room?" he asked slightly desperately.

Sasuke shuddered, "Oh no, I'm not walking into that. You know you could always give me one of yours if you're so worried," he said lazily watching him.

"Why does that sound so perverted coming from you?" Naruto asked narrowing his eyes.

"It's a rare gift," Sasuke grinned slyly.

The Uchiha walked over and slowly dragged the blonde's shirt up.

Naruto turned bright red and grabbed his shirt, pulling it back down.

"Teme! You can have the one I'm not wearing," he said running over and quickly throwing him the shirt on the couch.

"Well that's not as much fun," Sasuke pouted undoing his buttons very slowly and deliberately, "I wanted that one. It smells nice."

He looked down at the orange shirt in his hand, "And it's black," he said wryly.

"Well teme," Naruto grinned, "It's either that or invading the girls so there!"

The blonde stuck his tongue out and Sasuke rushed over and latched on before the other boy could withdraw it.

"Thathke," Naruto whined, "Let e go."

The Uchiha grinned evilly and slowly shook his head. He moved closer until their lips met, releasing the tongue he ran his own over every surface in the other mouth. Naruto groaned which only excited Sasuke even more. He kissed his way down the tanned neck. He wrapped his arms around his blonde pressing his bare chest up against him. He dropped the orange shirt and slowly ran his hands up his boyfriend's back. He could feel the protest forming and moved his lips to cut it off, this time Naruto dove into the kiss. He could feel the tight muscles against his, his body shuddered as Sasuke slid one leg in between his. Still the hands climbed higher.

He felt the grin as the Uchiha pulled away and yanked the shirt off.

"Sorry dobe, I wanted this one," he smirked.

Naruto's glare was somewhat marred by his panting.

"I didn't think you wanted me to make things uncomfortable," Sasuke said innocently pointing towards the stairs where the other boys were obviously making their way down.

"I bet they're doing something dodgy," Ryo's voice carried lightly down the stairs.

"Oh no, they will have long finished by the time we get there," Dan said chuckling.

Naruto calmly picked up the orange shirt and slipped it on and Sasuke rolled his eyes and stripped his own shirt off and put Naruto's on instead.

"See? I told you so," Dan said throwing himself on the couch. He was wearing a pair of green satin boxer shorts and a white singlet. Ryo sighed and sat on one of the mattresses. He wore black boxers and a blue t-shirt.

"How do you always do that?" Naruto asked jumping over the back of the couch to sit down.

"I told you I'm good," he grinned, "Any more of the chocolate left?"

OoOoO

"So how are you going to break it to Amaya?" Dan asked, watching Naruto.

"Break what? Oh that, it was Sakura's choice to invite Nico. Maybe she can come next time," the blonde shrugged.

Dan stared, "You're kidding right?"

"Kidding about what?" Naruto asked confused.

"Uh you do now she likes you right?" Ryo asked in disbelief.

"Yeah I know, that's why we're friends. I like her too," the blonde replied as if speaking to a moron.

"Dude she has a crush on you," Dan explained slowly, "She has been crushing on you since you got here."

"No way…" Naruto said looking around wildly.

"Why did you think I didn't like her?" Sasuke growled.

The sound sent a shiver up his spine, creating interesting feelings along the way.

"But you haven't liked her since we got…" he examined the pale boy speculatively, "Since then?"

"I think so," the Uchiha nodded, "We really have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah no doubt, so at the movies-"

"What do you think made me feel sick?" Sasuke rolled his eyes then grinned evilly, "As far as I am concerned stealing my ice cream was like an indirect kiss."

"Uh, maybe we should discuss all this later," Naruto stammered turning red.

"Good idea," Dan advised, "I reckon its time to sleep."

"But that's no fun," the blonde pouted.

Sasuke couldn't resist planting a light kiss on the plump lips, "Dobe you're bad enough at school when you're fully awake. Plus a little beauty rest wouldn't hurt."

Naruto stuck his tongue out and quickly pulled it back in, glaring at his boyfriend.

The blonde stomped over and laid down on their mattress, "This is my side and that's your side. If you even try to invade my side I will knee you in a very sensitive area."

"Well you're no fun then," the Uchiha muttered.

"Ok so I take it that means we sleep now," Ryo said lying down, "Good night all."

"Good night."

"Good night."

"Hey did you ever play those games?" Naruto asked.

Dan groaned, "What kind of games?"

"Those ones you play at sleepovers. You know like truth or dare and stuff," the blonde said excitedly.

"And how does that help me sleep?" Sasuke asked.

"It doesn't, I just thought it might be a bit of fun that's all."

"Well the girls are upstairs playing truth or kiss Naruto," Dan chuckled.

"I'll play that," Sasuke said quickly.

"Not unless you say truth," Naruto growled.

"Why don't we just ask questions that everyone has to answer?" Ryo suggested, "Like who and when was your first kiss?"

"Before I moved here, I knew a little girl called Liann and the day I left to move here she pulled me aside and gave me a kiss and some flowers," Dan told them, "But I never heard from her again."

"Umm when I was little my best friend was a girl and she sort of used me to practise for her boyfriend," Ryo said in a strange voice, glad that the others couldn't see his face in the dark.

"Uh… do you want to tell it or should I?" Naruto asked lightly.

"You, it was your fault dobe," Sasuke said, his heart pounding in the darkness.

"Well back home Sasuke was mister popular and I was sick of people always going on about him. So I was sort of…examining him up close. Standing on the desk in front of him and someone knocked me into him and we sort of…kissed. But it was an accident," Naruto said quickly turning red in the darkness, "I didn't mean to kiss the bastard."

"Dobe, like it even matters anymore," Sasuke rolled over and wrapped his arms around the blonde.

"What did I say about my side?" Naruto growled warningly.

"I can't see the line in the dark."

"Ok well I think that's enough questions for tonight," Dan yawned, "Don't either of you molest me in the night."

"No worries about that," Sasuke snorted.

* * *

**Ok well I hope you liked it and let me know what you thought. And just to make things clear they were never going to do anything serious with all those people downstairs :P  
**


	23. Chapter 23

**Ok I'm sorry I know its been a while but this chapter isn't really working but I am moving tomorrow and I don't know when I will get my net organised so this is as much of the chapter as is availible at the moment. I know it's short but hopefully its not crap enough to put you off New Beginnings because I promise the next chapter will be better  
**

**Anyway please try and enjoy, and excuse the shortness  
**

* * *

"Everyone up now!" Kakashi yelled, "Out of bed! Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, now!"

Reflexively both boys leapt up ready for action. Unfortunately they found themselves tangled in a blanket and fell back down.

The silver haired man ignored them and continued shouting until Iruka covered his open mouth with his own.

"Kakashi! Be quiet. You go into the school and get details. I'll stay here and sort things out," he looked pointedly at the sleep addled teenagers slowly gathering.

"Okay fine," he walked away muttering about a stupid bastard providing insufficient information.

"So," Iruka sad brightly, smiling at them, "Who wants pancakes?"

"Or you could tell us what's going on," Sasuke countered.

"Or he could tell us over pancakes," Dan added.

"Okay, pancakes first and then I'll tell you," Iruka agreed quickly.

OoOoO

When they finished eating Iruka gathered them all in the lounge room.

"Well there's no easy way to say this," Iruka began, Dan froze, "Amaya disappeared during the night. There is no school today, all the teachers were informed this morning and we have to go into school to turn away any students so I need you all to go home. I can't leave you all here unsupervised. Please go home and tell your families and any other students who live nearby and may not have heard yet. I'm really sorry."

Sasuke wrapped his blonde boyfriend in his arms and pulled him into his lap. Naruto buried his face in the Uchiha's chest.

"I'm really sorry to drop all of this on you and leave but they need me at the school. Please go home," Iruka said walking out.

Sasuke stroked the back of Naruto's head.

"We'd better get changed and head off," Kae said gently to Nico who looked stunned and slightly guilty.

"Yeah I'd better go too," Dan agreed, "I'll walk you guys home if you like."

"Thanks Dan, that would be really sweet of you," Nico said gratefully.

"No problem," he shrugged blushing slightly, "Does anyone mind if I change in the bathroom?"

"Nah go ahead," Sasuke told him.

The four guests tramped upstairs to change.

"Naruto are you alright?" the Uchiha murmured to the blonde in his arms.

Sasuke felt the tears soaking into his stolen shirt.

Sakura sat down on the other side of the brunette and hugged them both resting her head on Naruto's.

"I can't believe it," she said softly.

"We failed," Naruto said bitterly, "We were supposed to stop this. We were supposed to protect her."

"Kakashi and Iruka will be looking for her as we speak," Sakura soothed.

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place!"

"Dobe, as soon as these guys are gone we'll go find out what's happening," Sasuke rubbed his back.

Sakura stood up, "I'll clean up so we can go as soon as we're ready."

Ryo came back down the stairs, "Um, my mum won't be home. Is there any chance I could stay here for the day?"

Sakura looked torn, wanting to say yes but knowing she couldn't.

"I think you are probably the main one he wanted to go home," Dan told him glancing at Naruto, "You can come over to my place if you like."

"Yeah thanks," Ryo said a little reluctantly, Sakura hid her relieved expression.

"We'd all better go," Nico said coming down the stairs, "I'll talk to you guys later."

"Yeah, we'll see you later. Did you still want to do something tonight?" Sasuke asked.

"I'll call you this afternoon," Nico told him awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'll see what happens," Dan said grabbing his stuff.

"I'll see you later," Ryo said giving Sakura a quick hug.

"Bye guys, I'm sorry," Kae said opening the door. They all walked out and Nico shut the door gently behind her.

"Come on Naruto, let's go get changed and go into the school," Sasuke shook the boy a little.

The blonde pulled his head away from the pale boy's chest and looked at him through red rimmed eyes.

"Hmm, this shouldn't turn me on should it?" the Uchiha muttered just loud enough for the boy in his lap to hear it.

"Teme!" Naruto exclaimed jumping up.

"Well it got you moving didn't it?" he grinned evilly, "Sadness doesn't suit you dobe."

"I'm just going to have a quick shower," the blonde replied walking up the steps.

"So why do you think Kakashi was so upset?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Well from what we learned last night I am guessing it is because the principal didn't tell him that they weren't disappearing from the school. It's from the whole town. I mean how are we supposed to monitor the whole town with five of us? I know Kakashi and Iruka have been taking to turns to watch the school when they think we're asleep, and it would have been nice to know that was a waste of time. Really we should have more ninja on this mission and higher ranked ninja too, it's a waste of resources having us here," Sasuke ranted, "I can understand why he's pissed. I mean he could have at least told us when we got here. This is like hidden mist all over again."

"Oh, I can see why," the pink haired girl said wryly, "Do they really think we're stupid? How do they expect us to do our job when they lie to us."

"Come on guys! Hurry up and get dressed, we have to go," Naruto ordered, shaking the water out of his hair like a dog.

"Fine, fine," Sakura said running up the stairs.

"No one should look that cute first thing in the morning," Sasuke complimented catching the blonde's lips quickly before he followed her.

Naruto put a hand up to his lips with a smile. Hey wait.

"Teme! I am not cute!"

* * *

**Woo, for all those who were wondering when something bad was going to happen... there you go!**

**Please review and I hope you all enjoyed **


	24. Chapter 24

**Okay, this is not actually the next chapter. This is because I am struggling with the next chapter but I didn't want to abandon you so this is what you missed of the sleepover.  
**

* * *

"Alright then truth or kiss Naruto?" Sakura asked the blue haired girl excitedly.

She sighed, "And what would you do if I chose kiss Naruto?"

"Nicoooo!" Kae rolled her eyes, "Play along!"

"Fine then, truth I suppose," Nico said lying down and closing her eyes.

"Ok then, why are you so resistant to this?" Sakura asked seriously.

"Because, I don't mind doing dares. I'm fine with being stupid and doing stupid things, I mean I do enough already without any help, so I have no problem with that. But I don't like being serious and I don't want to lie to you guys but if you ask me a question I don't want to answer I will lie, and you'll believe it too," she said with her arm covering her eyes.

"Wow… Not what I expected…" Sakura said blinking.

"How do you know we'd believe it?" Kae asked lightly.

"Trust me you would, sometimes I can't even tell if it's true or not. Tis the life of a clown."

"Umm so Sakura truth or kiss Naruto?" Kae said, trying to move on.

"Truth, definitely truth," she said rolling her eyes.

"What's with the definitely?" Nico asked sitting up raising an eyebrow.

"Well back home Naruto always had a crush on me so I've always seen him as really obnoxious. He's like a little brother. Not someone you would ever want to kiss, but if I want to argue with someone I go straight to him," Sakura smiled, "Now your turn Kae."

"Truth," she grinned and hugged a pillow.

"Ok so who is it then? How are you taken suddenly?" the pink haired girl asked.

Her grin grew even wider, "His name is Gary, he's an exchange student from England and he just joined our class last week. Must be a good time for exchange students or something. Anyway, he was in a lot of my classes because we have a lot in common and things just sort of happened," she looked at Sakura, "You know how it is."

"Yeah," she smiled at the smaller girl.

"Oh brother," Nico rolled her eyes, "Can I go now?"

"Go where?"

"Anywhere that isn't here, I can go to the toilet if you want me to. Or maybe I'll go down and join the boys; I'll bet they're not being all mushy."

OoOoO

"Alright so who was your first crush and what happened?" Dan asked in the darkness.

"When I first started school there was this girl who always sat up the back. You know the kind, quiet and shy, smart as anything but never really fit in. She had big shiny glasses and I just though they were the coolest things I had ever seen," he chuckled, "I told her I liked her and she told me that boys were gross."

"Ouch," Sasuke laughed, "That's gotta hurt."

"Yeah but my friends told me later that she had cooties so I was just glad she hadn't touched me," Ryo laughed, "How about you guys?"

"You're not going to like this Ryo but my first crush was Sakura," Naruto said sheepishly, "She was always the smartest back home and she's cute. I told her I liked her and she said I was annoying."

Sasuke snickered, "It was funny."

"You guys are pretty close aren't you?" Ryo said observantly.

"We grew up together," Naruto said, "We started school together and went on camps and stuff together. Actually we went to a private school back home with really small classes. And we were a class, just the three of us so we sort of had to get to know each other."

Sasuke silently kissed the back of Naruto's neck in the darkness, "I think we all get along much better now that we have other people to put in a bit of a buffer zone between us," the Uchiha said wryly.

"Well in about pre-school I used to have play dates with one of my mother's friend's daughters and she always used to get dressed up for me and we would go and have tea parties and stuff and pretend we were married. I think I might even have asked her to marry me at one point. Anyway we started school and grew apart and I think she might have moved eventually," Dan said thoughtfully, "This was after Liann."

"You player you," Naruto laughed, "Now come on teme your turn."

"I don't think I've ever actually had a crush on anyone," Sasuke said thinking aloud.

"That's not even possible," Ryo scoffed.

"Look, most of my life I have had girls throwing themselves at me and I can't think of anything more annoying. I have never wanted one of them anywhere near me," Sasuke said disgustedly.

"Dude that's because you're gay," Ryo reminded him.

"Yeah but I've never been attracted to a guy either, or wanted to spend any time with any of them outside of school," the brunette said honestly, "Actually not until we came here..."

"So Naruto is the only person you have ever been attracted to then," Dan summarised.

"I guess so," he pulled closer to the blonde in the darkness.

"Wow," Naruto said quietly.

"Yeah that's what they all say," Sasuke chuckled.

"TEME!"

OoOoO

"Ok so Nico then, do you have a crush on anyone at the moment?" Kae asked her cousin.

"Nope," she said confidently, "I know Dan likes me but I am not interested in him that way."

"Really?" Sakura asked doubtfully, "But you guys are so perfect for each other."

"No way, we'd totally drive each other crazy," she said, "I'm too insensitive for a guy like him, he's pretty sensitive."

"No way," Kae raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah I mean you saw tonight, I totally upset him. He might think he likes me but if we were together I would hurt him all the time completely by accident. It really wouldn't be worth it," Nico rolled her eyes, "Guys never know what they want."

"Ok then…" Sakura said unbelieving, "What do you want to ask me?"

"What was it like where you used to live?" Kae asked curiously.

"Umm, well it was a lot smaller than it is here. Naruto, Sasuke and I were all in the same class. We didn't have the same sort of system at our old school because there were so few of us so we did all our classes together rather than being all separated like we are here. It was very natural, there was forest all around. It was a really nice place to grow up, I really should write a letter to my parents, or call them or something.." she mused.

"What about Naruto and Sasuke?"

"No they don't have parents, they're all dead," she broke off, "Hey wait that was two questions!"

"Can we sleep now?" Nico asked, "Please?"

"Oh alright then," Kae pouted, "I suppose so."

"Good night," Nico laid down and pulled the covers up.

"Night."

"Good night," Sakura sighed, she hoped she hadn't given anything away or contradicted anything the others had said. The must be tons of small villages surrounded by forest. She hoped.

OoOoO

"Any more stupid questions or can I sleep now?" Sasuke asked tiredly.

"Teme, you haven't even answered any so far," Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Yeah but I've been listening to you guys answer them," he silently began kissing his way around the boy's ear.

"Teme," he hissed, "Stop it."

"Ok we'll stop asking questions if you stop molesting Naruto," Dan told him grinning into the dark.

"Hmm, on second thoughts, keep going. What's the next question?" Sasuke said quietly into the blonde's ear.

He shivered, "No way in hell. We're going to sleep!"

Sasuke chuckled darkly, "You know I win either way right?"

* * *

**Ok that was just my little bit of fun. I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Oh and just so you don't need to ask, Nico was lying about not having a crush on anyone. She has a crush on Diran she just didn't want to tell them.**

**Oh and for the people who are kind enough to review do you think you could tell me what country you are from? I am just curious thats all. **


	25. Chapter 25

**Ok well here is the actual chapter 24. I'm glad you all enjoyed my filler chapter. SO many people wanted the sleepover to go on so that was my little bit of fan service for you. Meanwhile the reviews for this story have just reached 200 and now 201 so I wanted to thank everyone for being awesome. Keep your eyes out for a One shot which should hopefully be done soon and helped me with my writers block **

**And on with the story! **

* * *

"Sasuke! Hurry up and get out of the freaking shower before I come in there and pound you!" Naruto yelled banging on the door.

"Its unlocked dobe," the Uchiha called out. He chuckled to himself, "You're welcome to come and pound me whenever you like."

"TEME! Get your arse out here right now!" the blonde shrieked, "You know that's not what I meant!"

"Sasuke, stop playing we have to go," Sakura called out and the brunette sighed.

"Ok fine, but I would move out of the hallway if I were you. All I have in here is a towel," he called back grinning.

Sakura chose to go downstairs. Naruto stupidly chose to stand in the hallway with his hands on his hips waiting and glaring.

1…2…3

Sasuke quickly opened the door and pulled the blonde into the bathroom.

"I thought you were going to come pound me," he murmured into the boy's ear. He had wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist and nibbled slightly on the tanned ear.

The blonde's breath hitched slightly, "Teme you're getting the back of my shirt all wet."

He chuckled darkly, "I can fix that."

He slid his hands under the shirt and slowly lifted.

"Sasuke! We really need to go, we're on a mission bastard," Naruto said panicking a little; this was all a bit too fast.

The brunette sighed and turned the boy around and pulled their lips together quickly slipping his tongue into the open mouth. He absorbed the taste of the blonde and closed his eyes as the other tongue began moving against his own. He ran his tongue along the back of his boyfriend's teeth and stroked the roof of his mouth lovingly, discovering a sensitive spot that made the blonde moan a little and wrap his arms around the pale waist before…

"Teme! Where's your towel?" Naruto jumped back and closed his eyes blushing.

Sasuke looked down and shrugged, "Ooops, guess it fell off."

"Well can you please pick it up and put it back then?" he blushed even brighter at the image which burned behind his eye lids.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and put the towel back around his waist and hugged the blonde. "Don't ever change Naruto. I guess I had better go get dressed," he walked out and dressed in their room.

Naruto took a deep breath and splashed some cold water on his face. Now was not the time.

_You're welcome to come and pound me whenever you like…_

He grinned slightly, maybe he would take him up on that later.

OoOoO

"Why the hell didn't you tell us? You could have come clean when we got here and this might have been avoided! How the fuck are we supposed to cover this whole town with five of us huh? We could have brought more rookies or called for back up if you have given us accurate bloody information! And it would have been nice to know that we were wasting our time surveying the school at night!" Kakashi exploded.

Iruka touched his arm and he sat down, "Even if you were worried about price you should have given us the correct information when we got here. Everything we have been doing so far has been a complete waste of time. If we had been in possession of the full information this might have been prevented and we would have approached it all quite differently. As it is we might have to call in reinforcements on this one. I'm not sure how you expected us to survey the entire town accurately enough to determine if anything was wrong," Iruka shook his head, "Oh and please excuse Kakashi, this isn't the first time this has happened to him and last time he nearly lost some of his team."

The Principal lowered his head, "I was worried that if you found out that you would leave us with our problem. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry, please stay, we really need your help. I can give you the home addresses of all those who are missing and the police have agreed to grant you access to their files. Erm, would reinforcements be working as undercover students also?"

Kakashi and Iruka looked at each other.

"That would be a little suspicious," Kakashi snorted, "No they would be working strictly in the background. Look we're not even sure if there are any other teams free at the moment so you'll just have to wait and see. In the mean time we need total access to the school and any reports you have on the issue. Iruka can you-"

"I'll go read the police report," he said quickly.

"Thanks," he smiled, "We'll I'm going to go see what I can find out. Direct the kids when they get here."

"We're not kids!" Naruto yelled hotly.

Kakashi grinned and disappeared.

Iruka chuckled and led the rest of team 7 out into the hall.

"I'm going to go read the police reports, Sakura you can come help me. I want the two of you to go search the school, see if you can find or sense anything strange. If you do, call the other one and investigate together just in case."

They split up and Naruto and Sasuke kept their earpieces in as they roamed throughout the school scanning for even the slightest disturbance.

"I'll go check out her locker, make sure there's nothing weird there," Naruto told him.

"How do you even know where it is?" Sasuke growled checking each of the classrooms.

"Teme, she showed us on the first day, and she is my friend," he reminded his very jealous boyfriend.

"Fine, whatever, check it out," the Uchiha said shortly.

"Aww is Sasu-kins jealous?" Naruto chuckled as he reached the locker and opened it, "Umm Sasuke you might want to come have a look at this…"

The brunette changed direction and stopped, "Where are you dobe?"

"Umm, outside the chem lab," he mumbled.

Sasuke hurried to his side and stared at the open locker, "Shit…"

OoOoO

"They all seem to surround this area," Sakura mused scanning the reports.

"It all seems a bit too perfect doesn't it?" Iruka asked slowly, "What is there anyway?"

"Its national park area, someone really wants us to think that whatever is doing this comes from that park. Even the police think that it's incredibly suss," Sakura shook her head, "Whatever it is probably comes from a different area."

"That is, assuming that whatever it is is capable of high-level brain functions," Iruka added.

Sakura's communicator went off, "What happened?"

"_Whatever we're dealing with it's definitely human, or at least thinks like one. Amaya's locker has been opened and all of her books have been moved to make room for some weird sort of shrine with a wooden carving of an owl. Any ideas why?" _Sasuke's voice asked.

Sakura quickly relayed the information to Iruka who shook his head, "Nothing we've come across yet, which is her locker? We'd better have a look once we're done. See if you can find a policeman to guard it while you keep looking."

Naruto told her the number and where she could find it while Sasuke fetched a policeman. The strong looking man was a little out of breath when they returned which made the blonde think Sasuke had most likely run the whole way.

Once the man had his orders Naruto grabbed the Uchiha's hand and pulled him away.

"Sakura do you or Iruka have a mobile phone with you?" Naruto asked shyly.

"_Yeah I have mine, why?_" the girl asked confusedly.

"I was just wondering if you would mind turning your earpiece off for the moment. We'll call your mobile if we need you, Sasuke has his phone I think," the brunette nodded, "So just call him if you need us."

"_Okay sure,_" Sakura said in understanding, "_Just don't get too distracted alright?"_

"Yep, no worries," Naruto beamed.

"_Ok then turning off…now,_" she said.

"Sakura I can hear you breathing," Sasuke informed her wryly.

"_Oh, sorry. Ok well I need to get back to work now so I really am turning off. Good luck guys,_" there was a crackle and her signal disappeared.

"What are you doing dobe?" Sasuke asked lowly.

"We need to talk and I am getting all distracted so I figure it will be easier if we talk over the earpieces while we investigate," the blonde said proudly.

The dark eyes softened, "Alright dobe. You go that way and I'll have a look that way."

"_So teme, you didn't like Amaya because you were jealous?"_

Sasuke inwardly cursed saying anything, "Yes, that is why I didn't like Amaya," he told him reluctantly.

"When did you actually start liking me then?" Naruto asked curiously.

"_Hey shouldn't we be taking turns or something? Cafeteria's clean."_

"Alright fine then, what did you want to know?"

There was a pause, "_Why did you change your mind?"_

"Change my mind about what?" Naruto asked nervously.

Sasuke ran his hand through his hair, slightly annoyed at the evasion.

"Why did you agree to be my boyfriend?" he felt a thrill at just saying the word.

"_It wasn't that I… I always… I sort of thought about things. About what you said, I realised that all the times you had kissed me and everything, I had never once thought to try and stop you. It hadn't even occurred to me. And I realised something else, I enjoyed every moment, every little fight and argument. I never wanted to be without you. You make me feel safe, normal... loved,"_ his voice choked a little on the last word, _"I thought about how I would feel if you ever left, if something happened to you or you dated someone else and I just…I never want that to happen. I never want to see you kiss another person, never want to see you run your nose along their cheekbone or touch their body. Never. And I really couldn't deny it any longer..."_

Naruto rounded the corner and ran into the Uchiha who was wiping his nose a little.

"Trust me Naruto, its never going to happen," Sasuke grabbed him and pulled their bodies roughly together, catching his lips with his own.

The blonde wanted to stop him, to remind him they were on a mission but when their lips met he could think of nothing but the brunette. He closed his eyes and felt the tongue rub against his own, he let his tongue slide into the other mouth and searched for the sensitive spot he knew was there. He felt the Uchiha groan into his mouth and knew he had succeeded. He raised his arms around the boy and caught one hand in the silky black hair and rested the other around his shoulders.

They pulled apart both panting a little.

"So I might go check the classrooms on the second floor," Sasuke said a little breathlessly.

"Yeah I'll go investigate the speciality rooms," Naruto said blinking.

"Right well, carry on then," the Uchiha said, his arms still around the other waist.

Naruto ran his fingers through the dark hair once more and gave his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek before disengaging himself.

He walked away grinning, he shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled.

"_Next time you might want to ask me to turn my earpiece off also,"_ Kakashi chuckled.

* * *

**Ok well I hope you liked it. Review and let me know okay?**

**Oh and in case any of you were wondering, no I don't own Naruto, or Sasuke or any of the characters. However Nico, Dan, Ryo, Diran, Amaya and Nico's family are all mine... **


	26. Chapter 26

**Wow its been a while huh? I'm really sorry but my life has gotten a little busy, but don't worry I will definitely be continuing with both NB and One Wish So without any further ado please enjoy!**

* * *

"I think we should check out that park," Iruka told Sakura seriously, "It might be a wild goose chase but we should at least investigate."

"Yeah I agree, should we send the boys or Kakashi or are we just about done here?" Sakura asked.

"I think we've gotten just about all we can from the report so maybe we should just check it out ourselves. Did you want to call and let the boys know?"

She grabbed the mobile phone and called Sasuke's number.

"_Well you're the idiot who- oh hi Sakura did you need us?" _Sasuke asked.

"We're going to go investigate a park which seems central to all of the missing people's homes," Sakura explained.

"_Did you want us to come along and back you up?"_

She hesitated, "No, I think we should be all right, it seems to fit a little too neatly to actually be a lead. We're just looking at it in case, just make sure to keep your earpieces on and all the communication lines open."

"_Will do, good luck Sakura."_

"Thanks you too," she hung up and turned to Iruka, "Alright lets go check this out."

OoOoO

Sasuke hung up, "They're going to investigate a lead."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Naruto asked.

"No Sakura doesn't think its serious so they're just checking it out. If there are any problems they'll let us know," the brunette walked off towards the stairs.

"I don't like not knowing what's happening," Naruto muttered walking off towards the drama room, or "drama hole" as Dan had so affectionately called it. The blonde figured there were probably some unresolved issues there.

So Dan's best friend was among the missing… that certainly explained a few things. But not his uncanny ability to know what was going to happen all the time; that was just odd. Maybe it could help them somehow, he wasn't sure how yet but Naruto had the feeling that it could come in handy. Of course he would need to ask the boy about it first.

He was not jealous, he was not mad. He was very sorry that the stupid bitch had been taken and probably killed by something that built a shrine in her locker. Why would it build a shrine in her locker? He made is way back to locker to have another look, maybe they had missed something. He nodded at the policeman and examined the space. There was a hand carved statue of an owl, he didn't dare touch it until someone had taken photos but he examined the flowers and twigs that surrounded it.

"Hey Sakura?" he asked holding down the talk button.

"_Sasuke? What's up?"_

"Are you at the park yet?"

"_We're just about there why?"_

"I was wondering if you could see if they have a few of the plants these flowers and twigs came from. There might be some sort of connection."

She sounded slightly surprised, _"Yeah sure, why don't you send photos of them to my phone?"_

"Ok sure," the Uchiha took out his mobile phone and took photos of each of the flowers and tried to get some of the twigs as well without disturbing the display.

"The crime scene guys should be here pretty soon," the police man informed him, "They'll make sure you get a copy of all their reports."

"Is there any chance we could also examine what is taken from the locker?" Sasuke asked him as he finished sending the last of his photos.

"The evidence isn't allowed to leave the station until its all been examined but you are welcome to come to the station and carry out your own investigation," he told him gruffly.

"Has anything been found in any of the lockers or desks of the previous victims?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Not from what I have heard, although we generally weren't able to get at them immediately. This is the first time school has actually been cancelled so we could investigate, which shows how serious this is becoming. As far as I know, the only odd things about the desks and lockers is that they have been unusually clean for high school students," he told him seriously.

Sasuke inwardly sighed, obviously this guy took his job very seriously but it couldn't hurt to laugh occasionally.

"Thank you, is there anyone who I can talk to about this?"

"If you check the names on the reports and examine the evidence you should be able to find out more," the officer said helpfully.

"Thank you, now no one gets near this locker other than other officers and ninja. Not even the principal or any other members of the faculty. Do you know the other ninjas on my team?" the Uchiha asked seriously.

"Yes sir, we were given photos of your team for recognition purposes."

"Good," Sasuke ran off down the hall, "Naruto."

"_What teme? Drama hole is clean by the way."_

"I'm going down to the station to have a look at the reports from the other lockers and the desk of the missing teacher," Sasuke explained, "Are you right to examine the rest of the school by yourself?"

"_Yeah, I'm not really expecting to find anything, I mean the school is obviously involved but it doesn't have the feel of a base to me."_

"Me neither, I know it's involved but I think it's rather incidental."

"_Yeah, anyway let me know what you find in the reports,"_ Naruto ordered him.

"_Yes sir dobe," _Naruto could imagine him giving a mock salute.

He rolled his eyes, "Why the hell do I put up with you?"

"_Because you want to bonk his brains out,"_ Kakashi interrupted.

"_Kakashi!"_ Sakura exclaimed, _"Ooops."_

Sasuke laughed, _"Sounds like good reason to me."_

"You're all perverts and I'm not talking to any of you," Naruto sulked.

"_Lucky bastard,"_ Kakashi directed to Sasuke, _"All Iruka ever wants to do is talk."_

"_You wait till I tell him you said that,"_ Sakura told the perverted teacher.

"_He knows how I feel about the situation. Lesson number 83, there's no point in threatening or blackmail unless someone actually cares. There is nothing you could tell Iruka that I haven't already told him. Including that he has a very nice ars-"_

"_Lalalalalala!"_ Sakura yelled pulling her earpiece out. She finally stopped and put it back in, _"Kakashi if you are going to check out my other teacher's…bottom, please don't tell me about it, I really don't want to know."_

"_How about Naruto's then? He has a very cute-"_ Sasuke asked.

"_Teme! Leave my backside out of this!" _ Naruto blushed.

"_How do you know I wasn't going to say something else?"_ the Uchiha asked innocently.

"_All of you get back to work right now!"_ Iruka ordered through Sakura's mic, _"And Kakashi I don't appreciate you trying to pervert my students behind my back."_

"_Don't worry, from now on I will always do my perverting in front of you."_

"_That's not what I meant and you-"_

"_Kakashi out,"_ the jounin turned his mouth piece out and chuckled. Someone coughed and he turned his attention to the person in front of him who was blushing madly, "Sorry, now where was I? Hmm, I think I'll have the quarter pounder meal with coke thanks."

* * *

**Oh and by the way, italics means that they are being heard over a phone or communicating device of some sort. Just in case you didn't guess.**

**Well i hope you enjoyed it and please review and let me know what you thought, even if its just "I liked" or "I hated it"**

**I still want to know! **


	27. Chapter 27

**Wow, I know it has been practically forever but I have been really really busy. To make up for it this chapter is a bit longer than usual. I hope you enjoy, some things are beginning to be explained and fall into place.**

* * *

Sasuke walked into the police station and explained to the officer on duty who he was

Sasuke walked into the police station and explained to the officer on duty who he was. He was escorted to the room Iruka and Sakura had occupied, all the records had been put neatly back into a big box.

"Do you know where the reports on the contents of their lockers and desks would be?" he asked the man.

"You should be able to examine the actual contents if you are interested sir," the older man told him respectfully.

"That might be a better idea, where would I find them?" Sasuke asked thoughtfully.

"That would be the evidence locker sir, I can have it brought up to you if you like."

"Sure, I'll be here," Sasuke sat down and began going through the box.

"Need a hand teme?" Naruto asked leaning against the doorframe.

The Uchiha looked up and grinned, "Maybe later somewhere a bit more private, if you want to help with this though you're more than welcome."

The blonde just rolled his eyes good naturedly, "You know teme, one day I am going to take you up on one of these offers and you're going to die of shock."

"At least I'll die happy," he smirked.

Naruto sat down opposite him, "Right so what are we after Sherlock?"

"I want to know what was found in their lockers and desks, apparently the police weren't able to get to the lockers until after a full day of school so they may have cleaned in that time but I am hoping something might have been left behind. I want to know if that shrine is a one off occurrence or something of importance," Sasuke explained, "I have a feeling it is somehow very important."

"Well, you gotta trust your gut," Naruto shrugged reaching for a file, "Hmm let's see, in one of the victim's lockers they found a mouldy sandwich, biology text book, I think those two could be somehow related."

The brunette rolled his eyes, "Try and pay attention dobe this is important."

"Well you're no fun," he poked his tongue out, "They found pollen from a flower is that what you're after?"

Sasuke grabbed the report and flipped his phone open going through the pictures quickly until he found one that matched the picture they had added into the file.

"Naruto! This is one of them!" he jumped up, "Keep searching the files and if you find anything plant related in the file compare it with the photos on this mobile! I need to talk to Sakura and find out something."

Naruto flipped the phone open and blushed, "Teme, this is a photo of me."

"In the albums dobe, there's a whole heap of pictures I took of the plants in the locker. Sakura! What did you find out?" Sasuke asked excitedly.

"_Sasuke? Well all of the plants were from this park," _she confirmed, _"And there's a cave here that seems to be blocked somehow, we're not quite sure how yet. We were just about to call Kakashi to come have a look."_

"_I'm on my way," _the jounin's voice assured her.

"_I can feel something strange from the back of the cave, we'll let you know when we discover more," _the pink haired girl told him.

"Ok, did you need us?" Naruto asked.

"_No you boys continue your research. Don't get distracted,"_ Kakashi told them wryly.

They both blushed, "Please, we haven't even had a chance to get distracted yet," Sasuke smirked.

"_I don't really want to know guys," _Sakura said pointedly.

"Right well we'd better get back to these reports, let us know if you need back up or anything," Naruto said finally.

"_Yes sir,"_ they could almost hear the teacher roll his eyes.

"Come on dobe get back to work," Sasuke chuckled.

There was a knock at the door frame, "Um sir? The evidence files you requested?"

"Oh, good bring them in," he said absently reading a file.

The officers brought in three large boxes and set them on the floor, "These are just from their lockers, did you want anything else?"

"Nah it'll be right for the moment," Sasuke told them dismissively.

"Please let us know if you need anything," One officer told him as they left the room, closing the door behind them.

"Okay dobe well how about I read through the reports and you pull up the evidence I think we need to see?" the Uchiha asked.

"Right sounds good, all this reading is getting boring," Naruto rubbed his temples.

They worked quickly, Sasuke reading out numbers and Naruto quickly pulling the correct files out of the box for them both to examine. They found twigs, pollen and bark samples in most of the lockers.

"They all match the ones from Amaya's locker…" Naruto concluded.

"Yeah all of which were from that park," Sasuke put the last of the files back in the box, "Maybe we should go meet up with the others."

"Yeah," the blonde agreed, he pressed the button on his communicator, "Hey guys, we've finished with our investigating and we are heading your way now."

"_Why don't we meet back at the house to discuss our findings?"_ Iruka said uneasily.

"_Iruka? What's wrong? I thought your communicator was broken,"_ Naruto said quickly.

"_Everything's fine, the other two went into the cave to investigate and left Kakashi's communicator with me,"_ he explained quickly.

"_We're going to head back to the house now, we'll meet you guys there so we can discuss everything properly,"_ the jounin said authoritatively.

"Right we'll meet you there," Sasuke told him turning the microphone off, "Come on dobe, I'll race you," he told him in a silky smooth voice as they left the station.

Naruto grinned and wrapped his arms the slim waist, "What do I get when I win?" he breathed into the brunette's ear.

Sasuke covered the tanned hands with his own, "You already have me what more do you want?"

The blonde chuckled, "That was corny."

The Uchiha started running and pulled the boy after him, "I know but it sounded better than 'you can top'."

"Teme!" Naruto yelled at the laughing boy, even if he did speed up a little.

Sasuke burst in the door a little before the blonde and smirked, "How long do you think they'll be?"

"Not long enough," Kakashi said dryly as he walked in the door.

"I am going to pretend I didn't hear any of that," Iruka said pursing his lips, "Alright so what did you boys find out?"

"Well I think most of the lockers had been cleaned out before anyone got to them but the police found twigs and pollen and bark in most of the lockers and all of them were traced back to plants that came from-"

"The park," Sakura interrupted, "And all of them were around the cave too."

Sasuke looked excited, "So what was in the cave?"

The three ninja looked at each other.

"Well it had been blocked off but made to look natural but it was like a big door, we got past the 'door' and there was a very deep cave we followed one of the paths and found an owl altar," Kakashi paused, "There was a few candles around the place as well as flowers and that sort of stuff, but there was also a photo of Amaya and a strand of her hair on the altar, at least we're assuming it was hers."

Naruto and Sasuke looked shocked, "What was down the other path?"

"We thought we had better get you guys before we went back," Sakura said firmly, "It seems highly likely that whatever the shrine is for lives in the other part of the cave."

"Wow so I guess it wasn't a false lead after all…" Naruto said slowly.

"You're all missing the most important point here. Someone has to be putting the photos and hair there. Whatever the creature is it isn't the real culprit here. There is human interaction, for all we know its some dumb animal that is just reacting to an ingrained instinct to hunt," Sasuke said grimly, "We need to find out who is targeting the students if we want to stop this."

The blonde stared at his boyfriend admiringly, even Sakura looked slightly surprised.

Kakashi sighed, "Of course, but it doesn't hurt to know what we are up against. I still want you guys to watch all of the students. Speaking of which, didn't you all have plans for the night?"

"Well we did but I don't know what's happening now, everyone was a little freaked out this morning…" Sakura said trying to hide her misery.

"Well I suggest you call everyone and make plans for the night, try and include as many people in your group as you can. Not just to watch for anything suspicious but also to keep them safe," Iruka said brightly.

"Sakura you took a photo of the photo of Amaya didn't you?" Kakashi asked suddenly.

"Of course," she said confused.

"Can I please have your phone? Maybe the photo might hold a clue," he said in more of an order than an actual question.

"Sure, umm…" she trailed off blushing, "Please don't read my messages though."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Sakura, this is Kakashi we're talking about. Of course he's going to read your messages."

The silver haired jounin grinned and disappeared with the phone.

"Bugger," the girl exclaimed.

Iruka rolled his eyes, "I'd better go back into the school and see if they need me. Go out for the night okay? Enjoy yourselves."

Naruto hugged him and grinned, "Thanks 'ruka."

The man smiled and hugged him back and then walked out the door with a small wave.

"Shotgun the phone first!" Sakura yelled rushing over to the phone.

Sasuke snorted, "Like I even want it."

"Teme," Naruto admonished, "We have to make plans with the others."

"There's only one person I want to make plans with," Sasuke almost growled tangling his fingers with Naruto's.

Naruto smiled, "Why don't we give her some privacy?" he winked, "She'll probably be a while."

Sasuke grinned and pulled the blonde up the stairs after him. He pulled him into their room and closed the door pushing Naruto up against it.

"I love sharing a room," he purred nibbling the other boy's ear.

Naruto wrapped his arms around the Uchiha and lowered them to rest on his backside.

"Me too," he whispered as their lips finally met again.

Both mouths opened immediately to let the re-exploration begin. As the tongues met Naruto moaned a little and Sasuke growled into his mouth, both boys shivered in pleasure. The Uchiha slid his hands under the orange shirt his pale hands sliding up the tanned chest and Naruto obediently raised his arms and they pulled apart quickly so the shirt could be removed. Sasuke moved his mouth to play with the little pink nipples and Naruto leaned back and closed his eyes, raising his hands to run them through the beautiful black hair.

He tensed when he felt himself being lifted and thrown onto the beds which had not yet been separated.

"I think I prefer them like this," Sasuke chuckled.

"What makes you think I want to share a bed with you?" Naruto asked a little breathlessly.

The brunette trailed his hand down the muscular chest over the stomach to rest his hand on his boyfriend's groin.

"Gee I wonder," he said wryly.

Naruto blushed and pushed the hand away pulling Sasuke's lips down to meet his again.

The door opened and Sakura stood in the doorway with a hand over her eyes.

"I'm not looking but I couldn't get Ryo on his phone so I called Nico's and everyone is over there and she wants to talk to Sasuke. She's on the phone downstairs," she fumbled around for the door knob and finally opened her eyes and blushed bright red. She slammed the door quickly behind her.

Sasuke chuckled and gave Naruto a few light kisses before standing up, "I'd better go see what she wants."

"Hey Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

Naruto sat up and grinned at him, "Your fly is undone."

* * *

**Well I hope you liked it and please review and let me know! If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them so long as it doesn't give anything away :D  
**


	28. Chapter 28

**Hi sorry its been a while but I have been busy  
**

**Anyway I think this one definitely needs a lemon warning. It was my first real attempt so please be kind.**

**And as always, enjoy it!**

* * *

Sasuke sighed and picked up the phone, "Hi Nico."

"_Hey Sassi how's it hangin?"_

"It's not actually. Shit arse timing as usual," he said with false cheer.

"_Oh… uh, oops?"_ she squeaked, _"So, um…did you guys want to do something tonight?"_

"Yes, none of which involves any of you unfortunately," he said dryly.

"_Teme!" _Naruto admonished, _"I said I wanted to go out all together!"_

"Naruto?" the Uchiha asked confusedly.

"_Yeah, did you know Iruka has an extension in his room? And a fucking spa too?"_ he replied indignantly.

"_Uh right, so what are we going to do? Mum says we can have tea here if we like and then go somewhere,"_ Nico told them.

"Then how about we have dinner at your place then go see a movie?" Sasuke suggested.

"_And we can get ice cream afterwards!"_ Naruto chirped happily.

"_Sounds like a plan,"_ Nico agreed,_ "We'll see you guys around six thirty-sevenish alright?"_

"Yep sounds good," Sasuke told her.

"_Alright, see you then then."_

"Bye."

"_See ya!"_

"_I'll see you too."_

"_Torya!"_

Sasuke chuckled as he hung up the phone. He walked back up to his room only to find a returned Naruto lying down on the joined beds with his arms folded behind his head. The Uchiha grinned and closed the door behind him, he laid down next to the boy and traced his fingers over the still bare chest.

"So where were we?" he purred.

Naruto rolled over to face him, propping himself up on one elbow, he traced the pale face with his free hand and gently rubbed the dark lips. His beautiful blue eyes were somewhat troubled.

"What's wrong Naruto?" his brunette boyfriend asked gently as he sat up and took the tanned hand between his own.

The blonde felt a little thrill at hearing his name from those lips.

"Sasuke, have you thought about what is going to happen when we have to go home?" Naruto asked sadly.

The boy kissed his palm and looked him in the eyes, "Not particularly, what are you worried about?"

"Well, what are they going to think about…us?" the blonde sat up and looked at something on the blanket which had suddenly become absolutely fascinating.

Sasuke smiled at the boy and dropped his hand so he could lift his chin. He moved closer and kissed him lightly before dragging the smaller boy into his lap and wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Naruto, what does it matter what anyone else thinks? I love you."

Naruto felt the familiar tingle run through his body at the words. He wrapped his arms around the Uchiha and buried his head under his chin, inhaling the scent which had so quickly become an addiction.

"I love you too," he whispered and Sasuke shivered at the hot breath on his skin.

He couldn't resist any longer and raised the tanned face to bring their lips together again. He deepened the kiss immediately when the other mouth opened up to him and he could feel the blonde groan as their tongues moved against each other. The Uchiha caressed the scarred cheeks with his thumb, he lowered the boy onto his back and released his other arm to run the fingers once more over his boyfriend's chest and stomach this time watching the blonde's face as he toyed with the top of his pants. Naruto's hands shook slightly as he lifted his arms from the brunette's back to slowly undo Sasuke's shirt buttons. The Uchiha sat up and slid the shirt off while Naruto couldn't help but admire the pale body in front of him. He watched the way the abs bunched up as his boyfriend leaned over to claim his lips once more.

Sasuke rocked back onto his knees, "Naruto, are you okay with this? Don't make me push you into anything."

Naruto blushed and looked down at his obvious sign of desire, "It's a bit late now isn't it?" he laughed pushing the brunette onto his back so he could capture the darker nipple in his mouth. He ran his tongue over it experimentally, not quite sure of what it was that he was doing, when he felt the shudder of the body underneath him he knew he was doing something right. He ran his hands up the sides of the Uchiha's body and then back down to trace the abs with his fingers. He moved his mouth downwards leaving a trail of saliva and Sasuke shivered, he dipped his tongue into the boy's bellybutton and heard him gasp at the strange sensation. The Uchiha began slowly undoing his pants, watching Naruto very carefully for any signs of discomfort but the boy grinned and stood up to remove his own pants.

They both left their boxers on for the moment and Sasuke climbed back onto the smaller boy grinding their erections together, both boys gasped at the alien feeling.

"I don't exactly know what I'm doing," Sasuke warned panting lightly.

"Don't worry, I won't know if you're doing it wrong," Naruto chuckled wryly.

With this strange mutual consent they began experimenting with wandering hands and delicious friction. They rubbed their obvious arousals together and both gasped again at the strong feelings flooding their bodies. Sasuke tentatively pulled at the orange boxers and Naruto blushed bright red. The Uchiha stopped what he was doing and leaned over to capture his boyfriend's lips. He pulled away and smiled.

"You are just far too cute for your own good Naru-chan," Sasuke showered small kisses over his face and neck.

"I'm not cute!" the blonde pouted.

While he was distracted Sasuke quickly yanked the boxers away finally freeing Naruto completely, the smaller boy gasped as the cooler air hit his erection. Sasuke caught the blonde's lips once more and began to gently stroke his member. Naruto gasped and moaned as he felt Sasuke's warm hand around him created a glorious friction that made him forget everything else. The Uchiha almost came in his boxers when he heard and felt Naruto writhing and whimpering beneath him. He pulled his hand away from Naruto's length to gently take the blonde's hand in his own guiding it to the waistband of his boxers. The boy lifted his other hand to shakily slide the boxers down releasing Sasuke at last. They rubbed their bodies together once more and Naruto was almost gone with the pleasure of the myriad new sensations. He grabbed Sasuke's arse and ground their bodies together and claimed his lips in time to feel the groan. The brunette pulled away from his lips and silently Naruto mourned the loss of heat until he felt the strange sensation of something on his member. His hips bucked of their own volition and he felt firm hands hold his hips down. As soon as he felt a sucking sensation he came immediately into the hot cavern he knew so well. Sasuke choked a little before swallowing and Naruto decided it was probably his turn. He flipped the larger boy onto his back and eyed his length before attempting to take some of it into his mouth. He wrapped his tongue around Sasuke and sucked experimentally. The boy lying under him panting and gasped, his eyes screwed up and his whole body tense. It was not long before the brunette came also and Naruto lay beside him.

Sasuke pulled the blonde into a hug and kissed him softly.

"Well I am absolutely rooted," Sasuke murmured quietly.

Naruto chuckled, "That was the idea wasn't it?"

"Shit! What time is it?" Sasuke asked wildly.

"Relax! Its only four o'clock," Naruto soothed looking at the clock.

Sasuke rolled over and set the alarm for five thirty.

"I am definitely taking a nap," he said tiredly.

Naruto pulled the brunette back over to rest on his chest and they laid together and fell asleep.

OoOoO

_Beep Beep…Beep Beep_

Sasuke reached out and tried to find the alarm and failed. He rolled over and promptly fell on the floor pulling something heavy on top of him. Naruto reached up and turned the alarm off.

Slowly the boys became aware of their positions, Naruto's naked body pressing heavily down on the Uchiha's. Both boys blushed furiously and Naruto stood reaching down to catch Sasuke's hand and pulled him up after him. The Uchiha's lips met his briefly and they smiled shyly at each other.

"Is it alright if I have first shower teme?" Naruto asked.

"So long as Sakura hasn't already taken it over," the brunette chuckled.

"Oh she would have been out of there ages ago," Naruto rolled his eyes, "She should be in her room by now."

Sasuke wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist and whispered in his ear, "You might want to make sure you cover up first anyway."

Naruto pulled his face alongside his and kiss him gently.

"Well duh," he rolled his eyes and slipped a pair of pants on before grabbing some clothes and leaving for the bathroom. Sasuke pulled on a pair of pants before going downstairs to have a drink. He sat on the couch flicking between channels while he waited for the water to stop running.

The door opened and the two teachers walked in and Iruka stopped in his tracks.

"Oh god you didn't!" he choked staring at the shirtless teen on the couch with tousled hair.

"It was a long day I was tired," Sasuke said irritably.

Iruka looked relieved and Kakashi smirked, this was going to make for a fun conversation later!

"HEY TEME! THE BATHROOM'S FREE!" Naruto shouted from his bedroom door.

"Well I'd better go get ready to go out then," the Uchiha sighed resignedly.

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**Well I hope you liked it. Please review and let me know!  
**


	29. Chapter 29

**Well first off I am sorry it has taken so long. And second off I am sorry it is so short and total shit. **

**It was very hard to write as I have just not had the urge but I tried for you all and I'm just sorry it isn't better  
**

* * *

_Grabbed on his nuts but just what if, it was never meant it was just an accident but he tripped, fell, slipped and his_

"Torya!" Nico's voice could be heard throughout the neighbourhood, "Stop messing with the bloody doorbell!"

A laughing Torya answered the door.

"Come on in guys. Nico is in the lounge room with the others. You might want to be careful, she sounds pretty mad at somebody," he let them in and pulled Sasuke aside, "I need to talk to you."

Nico looked furious and Naruto tried to hold back his laughter, he was doing admirably until Ria came in, at which point he failed miserably. This time her apron was on the front and carried the message 'I was going to stop at one but I lost count' and she had traded the titanic slippers for a rather fetching pair of purple bird's feet. It was a strange combination.

She smiled at them, "Don't mind Nico, she's just upset that Torya keeps changing the doorbell. Never know what sound it's going to make. Fun isn't it?"

Naruto grinned broadly.

"Mum, do you have any idea what that song was? Do you know what the next word would have been?" Nico ranted.

"Penis," Ria said placidly, "Of course I know dear but at least its not that Blink 182 song about the dog anymore."

Nico looked horrified, "Can we disown him please? Even I think that's totally inappropriate."

"Stop being such a prude," Ria said dismissively, "Oh and dinner is ready everyone."

As they sat down a dazed looking, bright red Sasuke entered followed by an entirely too innocent looking Torya.

Nico's eyes narrowed, "What have you been up to now?"

"Nothing," Torya said innocently taking a seat, "Just having a chat with little Sasukins."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his blushing boyfriend in the seat next to his.

"Must have been one hell of a conversation," he said curiously.

"Oh I'm sure he'll explain it all to you later," Torya winked and began eating.

Ria, Kae, Sakura, Ryo, Dan and Naruto all blushed.

Nico groaned, "Kill me now, please tell me you didn't!"

"Right now? But we haven't even had a chance to see the movie yet," Naruto chuckled.

"Wow, my family suddenly looks very boring," Dan observed.

Nico looked around the table hopefully, "Anybody wanna swap?"

"I'd swap but then you'd have to kill my brother for me," Sasuke joked.

The others stared at him unsure of what to do until Naruto burst out laughing, the others quickly followed suit.

"Same," Nico told him.

"I still thought it was funny," Kae giggled.

"Thank you darling cousin, at least someone still loves me," Torya sniffed pathetically, "Nobody has a sense of humour anymore."

"Anyone for seconds?" Ria asked brightly.

OoOoO

"I love it when you cook for me Ruka darling," Kakashi said extravagantly wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's waist.

"Then maybe you could be a bit more helpful," the brunette sighed slapping away the hand that reached for the meat he had just finished cutting.

"But where's the fun in that?" the silver haired jounin asked latching onto his lover's neck, sucking gently.

Iruka smiled good naturedly, "Alright come on, dinner's ready."

Kakashi worked his way up the brunette's neck to his ear, "You're a bit slow, I'm already onto dessert."

His boyfriend pushed him out of the way as he carried his plate to the table, "Not until you've finished your vegetables."

OoOoO

Naruto moaned and patted his stomach as they made their way to the cinema.

"Man I love your mum and her cooking. Stuff Sasuke! One day I'm going to marry that woman, or failing that, her ramen," the blonde grinned.

"I think my father might have something to say about that," Nico chuckled.

"Dobe I am offended that you would leave me for a married woman or her ramen," Sasuke sniffed, "I'll have you know I am a very good cook."

"Are you now?" Naruto eyed him speculatively, "And when do I get to test this theory?"

The raven stopped and pulled him in for a quick kiss, "Maybe later if you're a good boy."

"Oooh kinky," Kae giggled as they waited for the boys to start moving again.

"So what were we planning on seeing?" Dan smoothly changed the subject.

"How about Blades of Glory?" Sakura suggested, "I think it starts pretty soon."

"Oh yeah, Diran is meeting us here too," Nico told the others, "You guys don't mind right?"

"Nope," Naruto grinned, "The more the merrier."

Naruto and Sasuke both saw Dan tense at the mention of the other boy's name. This couldn't be pretty.

The blonde grabbed Sasuke's hand and dragged him over to the ticket counter, "Let's get tickets. And then you are buying me popcorn!" Naruto ordered loudly and childishly. The others laughed and followed slightly behind.

OoOoO

"That was absolutely perfect," Kakashi smiled, leaning his chin on his hands.

"Thank you," Iruka smiled blushing slightly.

The jounin raised one eyebrow and grinned, "Now how about dessert?"

The brunette jumped up and grabbed both plates, "I made dumplings."

Kakashi wrapped his arms around the man's waist and dragged him into his lap, being careful of the plates, and kissed his ear, "That's not what I meant and you know it," he told him in a low voice.

Iruka shivered at the sound, he felt the lips trailing down his neck to bite at his shoulder.

He moaned a little, "But I spent ages cooking them and making the custard."

The younger man pouted and kissed his silver haired lover's forehead, "Don't you like my cooking?"

Kakashi chuckled at just how neatly the chunin had turned things around, "You know I love your cooking Ruka. Why don't we eat in the lounge room?"

His boyfriend thought about it and smiled, "Sure that sounds like fun. Just don't spill anything alright?"

OoOoO

Sasuke sat in the back corner of the cinema with Naruto next to him. Dan sat on the other side of the blonde next to Nico, Kae had managed to snag the seat on her other side so Diran was next to her. As soon as they had entered Sakura and Ryo had gone and found a seat to themselves leaving Sasuke, Naruto and Kae with the slightly uncomfortable trio.

As the lights went down Naruto grinned and lifted the armrest separating him from his boyfriend and pulled the Uchiha's arm to wrap around and rest on his hip. Sasuke smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Naruto's eyes were glued to the screen, not even leaving it to find the popcorn. Sasuke watching in amusement as the tanned hand waved around in his direction trying to find the box of salty refreshments. He finally found it and took a handful.

He tried to find the popcorn once more and Sasuke chuckled when he found something that was definitely not popcorn. The blonde tore his eyes away from the screen for a second and pulled his hand away blushing.

"Sorry teme," he whispered.

Sasuke chuckled and lifted the offending hand to his mouth and kissed it softly.

"That's alright dobe, you'll just have to wait until we get home," he smirked as the boy turned a darker shade of red and continued watching the movie.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. I would have waited and made it longer and better but I didn't know how long that would take.**

**I hope you at least got some sort of enjoyment out of it. I always enjoy reading reviews and I am so jealous that no one has tried to fanart for this  
**


	30. Chapter 30

**Ok I know it has been forever and I shouldn't even have done this now becasue I am currently stalling for a politics essay due tomorrow (actually overdue tomorrow but lets not get technical)**

**Anyway I realise this chapter is not particularly good but I hope it makes you laugh a little, and explains Torya's talk. I had so many of you ask me what it was so hopefully this explains it slightly for those who didn't get it.**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

Sasuke turned bright red as he watched the two men on screen in wildly suggestive positions, Torya's explanations running through his head.

"_I heard you and Naruto finally came out together. Congratulations," Torya grinned and patted him on the back._

"_Thanks Torya. Is that what you wanted to tell me?" the Uchiha raised an eyebrow, "And the reason you couldn't tell me there was…"_

"_Well I just figured now that you have a boyfriend you might need to know about certain things and how they work," he grinned innocently, "I.e gay sex."_

_Sasuke turned bright red and listened awkwardly as Torya sat him down and explained certain facts of life he felt sure no school curriculum had ever covered._

The brunette was brought back to the present when his blonde shifted slightly, the Uchiha noticed wryly that he hadn't tried for more popcorn since he missed last time.

"Cute little dobe," Sasuke chuckled softly taking a handful of popcorn and placing it piece by piece into Naruto's mouth.

"Teme," the blonde blushed and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

OoOoO

Kakashi turned the TV on quietly and checked that the front door was locked and curtains closed before he sat down and waited. After a moment he sat up and took his shirt off and grabbed the remote so he could flick disinterestedly until Iruka came back.

The brunette walked in and almost dropped the big bowl of dumplings on the floor when he saw his boyfriend sitting half naked on the couch flipping through the channels. He quickly put the bowl down on the coffee table and took a seat next to the jounin. Kakashi put the remote down and reached up to brush his fingers across the man's cheekbone and down his cheek.

Iruka shivered, "Come on, dessert first then I'll help you take care of your problem."

He cheekily touched the crotch of the older man's pants.

Kakashi growled a little and turned to the table, "Fine, where are the spoons?"

The brunette's eyes sparkled mischievously, "Oh my, I must have forgotten them. I guess we might just have to use our fingers love. Unless you want to go grab some spoons that is."

He trailed his fingers lightly through the syrup and custard, he looked up at his boyfriend innocently as he licked off the sugary mixture.

The jounin raised an eyebrow, "No way, you forgot them not me. I'm not getting them."

"Perfect," Iruka smiled picking up a dumpling.

OoOoO

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably as his mind wandered to Torya's little explanation again.

"Sasuke Uchiha whatever you are thinking of please forget it right now," Naruto hissed blushing.

"Huh?" the brunette said eloquently as he was drawn back into the cinema.

The blonde looked pointedly at the crotch of the boy's tight black jeans blushing furiously, "The movie is almost over and we have to walk back out into the light soon. If you don't calm down I am not walking anywhere near you."

Sasuke shook his head and swallowing, took a handful of popcorn grinning sheepishly at Naruto. The blonde turned back to the screen and Sasuke took a few deep breaths trying to calm himself down, he tried to think of the least sexy thing he could. He almost laughed when the first thing he though of was Sakura and Ino fighting and fawning over him back in Konoha. That certainly helped sort things out.

He grinned and turned back to the screen just in time to burst out laughing as the movie tried to help him along with a little disturbing incest. The theatre let out a disgusted groan as one.

Naruto smiled and grabbed Sasuke's hand as the credits began to roll.

Nico turned to the couple, eyes twinkling, "So how much did you guys actually watch?"

"I watched the whole thing," Naruto said indignantly, "What else would I be doing?"

"Not what bud, who," Dan told him with a lazy grin that belied the tenseness of his entire body.

"Wait what?" Diran asked blinking, "I totally missed something here."

"Oh uh, right, um forgot about that," Naruto blushed sheepishly.

"Naruto and Sasuke are together," Kae supplied happily.

"Wow, didn't see that coming," the boy said, Sasuke noted that his shoulders relaxed slightly at the news.

'What in the world…' he thought to himself.

"Ice cream!" Naruto cheered standing up, it took a moment for everything to settle, "After a pit stop of course."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Alright come on, let's go guys."

OoOoO

Iruka groaned as he swallowed the last mouthful of dessert, he clutched his stomach and groaned again.

"I should not have eaten all of that," he smiled sheepishly.

Kakashi leaned in and licked the sauce from around the brunette's mouth before sealing their lips together. Iruka quickly opened his mouth allowing the other tongue to lose itself in his syrupy mouth, he groaned again for entirely different reasons.

"Bedroom now," Kakashi said huskily when the broke apart. He grabbed the brunette's hand and pulled him up the stairs.

Iruka chuckled, "I should cook more often."

OoOoO

"Please Sasuke?" Naruto whimpered.

"I don't even like sweet stuff dobe," the Uchiha rolled his eyes.

"Exactly, so you should be able to buy me twice as much!" the blonde told him standing in front of the table while the others waited in line. Sasuke had sat down as soon as they had entered the shop.

"And the reason you can't buy it yourself?" he asked secretly amused at the small blonde's antics.

"Would you really make your boyfriend buy his own ice cream on your very first date?" Naruto fluttered his eyelashes innocently.

"I bought you ice cream last time we went out," Sasuke smirked.

"No you bought you an ice cream and I stole it," his boyfriend reminded him.

"Dobe," the Uchiha began patiently, "I hate sweet stuff. Why would I buy myself an ice cream?"

"You… I… you didn't…" Naruto looked confused but covered it quickly, "You smug bastard just hurry up and buy me an ice cream dammit!"

"Here's the ice cream you wanted Sassi," Nico sat down and handed him one.

"Thanks Nic," Sasuke said politely and stared directly at Naruto. He took one long lick of the ice cream and grimaced, "Yuck too sweet for me. You want it dobe?"

The blonde spluttered and was speechless.

"Or I can throw it out if you don't want it…" Sasuke offered raising an eyebrow.

"Bloody teme give me the bloody ice cream!" Naruto pouted and sat down.

The Uchiha leaned over, handed him the sweet and smirked, "You're the only sweet thing I like."

"Man I hate you sometimes," Naruto told him licking his ice cream.

OoOoO

"I wish I had a lube no jutsu," Kakashi groaned digging through his drawers.

Iruka came up behind him and reached into the same drawer pulling out a small tube.

"Is this what you were looking for?" he asked mildly.

"One day I am going to learn how you do that," the jounin threatened.

"I take care of Naruto, it comes with the territory," the brunette smirked slightly.

"I knew you'd make a good father," the older man kissed him lightly and led him to the bed.

Iruka turned bright red, "I wouldn't say that."

"Mother then," Kakashi grinned cheekily.

The brunette aimed a punch at him half heartedly which he caught. He pulled the younger man into his arms and planted kisses all over his face and neck swiftly lifting his boyfriend's t-shirt over his head and throwing it aside.

Iruka slid his hands all over the body above him, playing with the tight little nipples ripping a moan from the silver haired man.

Kakashi captured his lips again in a heated kiss and slowly pulled Iruka's loose pants and underpants down until he had to pull away to remove them completely. The brunette sat up and wrapped his arms around his lover's shoulders and latched into his neck biting and licking at the sensitive skin. Kakashi groaned as he removed his own pants. It was hard enough holding back without his tanned younger lover making things harder. He finally managed to throw his pants aside and recapture Iruka's lips again in a bruising kiss. He grabbed the tube and squeezed a fair amount on his fingers. Kakashi trailed his fingers down Iruka's stomach and around his freed erection to push softly at the puckered opening. The brunette arched his back at the sensation. He pushed one finger into the tight hole and Iruka gasped and shuddered slightly his eyes wide.

Kakashi leaned down to kiss him again trying to distract him from the likely unpleasant feeling of being stretched. He added another finger to continue the work searching for the nerves he knew would cause his lover intense pleasure. He felt the throaty noise that consumed the other man and realised he had found what he was looking for. He rubbed it with his fingers using the distraction to add the final finger to finish the preparation before he came without any help.

"Are you ready?" the jounin asked gently planting kisses all over the younger man's face.

Iruka locked the face in between his hands and plundered the other mouth, "Isn't that what you're doing?"

Kakashi grinned and rubbed a little extra lube on himself before he moved to Iruka's entrance, "Try and relax love," he told him as he slowly moved his head inside his lover.

The brunette gasped and his boyfriend fought the urge to push quickly into the tight heat.

"Relax love, I'll go slowly," he slowly eased a little more into the man as he gasped himself at the feeling surrounding him. He kept pushing slowly until he was buried in Iruka's heat. The brunette lay still and let his body grow accustomed to the welcome intrusion. He pulled Kakashi down for a kiss before he gave him the okay to move.

The silver haired man pulled almost all the way out before he plunged back in making Iruka gasp and instinctively clench around him. Kakashi groaned and worked himself into a rhythm grabbing the brunette erection to work it in time with his plunging. Iruka twisted his hips a little and Kakashi hit the nerves again, when a deep husky groan ripped from his lover's throat he re-angled his thrusts to hit the nerves every time. The combined sensations was too much for Iruka and he came into Kakashi's hand and his tight passage clenched around the jounin once more and he shouted as he let himself go in the smaller man.

He collapsed on top of Iruka and lay there breathing heavily a few moments before he managed to pull himself out and roll off to lay beside the man he had chosen for his own.

* * *

**Now remember ladies and gentlemen I am new at lemony stuff so please be kind and fill in the gaps yourself ;)**

**Please review, you know how much I love it when you do!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Sorry guys I have been busy with life but I hope you like it anyway and sorry for the short and crappiness but hopefully I shall update in the next few days.**

* * *

The teens walked slowly to the little park near the ice cream shop. Sakura and Ryo once again went off by themselves and sat on the swings while Naruto, Sasuke, Nico, Kae, Dan and Diran all sat on the grass and enjoyed their snack.

"So uh, you guys are together huh?" Diran asked the boys, "Since when?"

"Umm, since yesterday really," Naruto smiled at his boyfriend.

"Yeah but it's been a long time coming," Dan smirked nonchalantly.

"Serious?" Diran asked tensing, obviously the animosity was not merely one sided Sasuke noted.

"Oh yeah, the sexual tension was insane, I thought everyone had noticed," Nico laughed then smirked evilly, "Seems to have worked itself out now though."

Both boys blushed and Naruto busied himself with his ice cream.

"Thought so," Kae and her cousin hi-5'ed each other and grinned, "Kani is going to be so mad, he owes me now."

"Hey you guys bet on us?" Naruto asked indignantly.

"Right, well everyone finished? Come on Naruto lets take the rubbish eh?" Dan offered cutting off the soon to be argument.

"Aw come on, can't Sasuke do it?" the blonde whined.

"No way dobe, I already bought you popcorn and an ice cream I am way over my nice quota for the week," the Uchiha flipped his hair jokingly.

"Bastard," Naruto pouted.

"You know you love me," he smirked and patted his blonde on the head as patronizingly as he could.

"Oi Naruto come on and at least pretend to do something useful," Dan called out starting the long trek to the bins.

"I'll come too," Diran offered quickly as Naruto stood to follow.

"Nah it's alright," the blue eyed boy grinned, "I don't mind."

"But-"

"Don't worry they're big strong boys, they can handle themselves," Sasuke laughed as he carefully watched the other boy.

"I'm sure they do all the time," Nico laughed and the others joined in.

"Naruto," Dan said urgently once they were out of earshot, "You guys are here about the disappearances right?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Don't pretend otherwise Naruto, I know you're here to investigate," he said tensely.

"I don't know what you're-"

"Dude! I'm not going to out you guys or anything I just want to give you information. I know what this is going to sound like but trust me it's not what it sounds like," he ran his free hand through his hair, "Take care of Nico, she's going to be in danger in time."

The blonde blinked and watched his friend, "What? What do you mean? How do you know?"

"Intuition?" Dan smiled wryly, "I don't know how I just do. Same as I know why you're here and I knew about you and Sasuke. And in case you didn't know, your guardians are most definitely a couple in every sense of the word."

Naruto's jaw dropped, his eyes wide, "Iruka? He wouldn't… they…Kakashi…it's just… they… shit."

"Well said," he chuckled throwing the rubbish in the bin. Dan turned in a different direction, "Say bye to the others for me, I have to be getting home now. Remember, take care of Nico, please?"

"Kbye dude, don't worry about it," Naruto said, the other boy waved and walked off. The blonde thought as he made his way slowly back to the others.

What had he meant?

"What's wrong dobe?" Sasuke asked as Naruto rejoined their little group.

"Bastard, why'd he have to drag me halfway across the park if he was only going to leave anyway?" the blonde pouted, "Lazy bastard."

"Maybe he just wanted to hit on you where loverboy couldn't hear," Kae suggested smirking.

The Uchiha growled and pulled the smaller boy into his lap kissing him soundly.

"Geez teme, possessive much?" Naruto asked a little breathlessly.

"Well done," Nico congratulated her smaller cousin.

"Too easy," she grinned.

Diran looked shocked, embarrassed and slightly disturbed, he blushed and looked away while Sasuke adjusted the blonde so he was sitting properly in the raven's lap and could comfortably rest his chin on the boy's shoulder.

"We'd better head home too," Nico said reluctantly.

"We'll walk you guys," Naruto offered and Sasuke groaned.

"Do we have to?" he asked tightening his grip on the slim waist.

"Yes teme, be nice!" the blonde admonished.

"I can walk them home if you like," Diran quickly offered.

"Sure you can come too, you know what they say, safety in numbers," Naruto chuckled.

"Right well, all in favour of letting Nico be taken by the monster?" Sasuke and Kae raised their hands.

"Kae!" Nico exclaimed.

"What?" Kae defended, "I just think it'd be interesting is all."

"I feel so betrayed," the blue haired girl sighed.

"All against?" Naruto, Diran and Nico raised their hands, "Uh Nic I'm not sure you get a vote."

"You're just mad cuz we won," the blonde stood up grinning, "Come on teme lets walk the girls home."

"What do you mean girls?" Nico said in the deepest voice she could muster.

"I didn't think you were going to say anything," her cousin reminded her cheekily.

"Oh don't worry I already knew she had balls, have you heard what she calls Sasuke-teme?" Naruto laughed.

"So not funny dobe," Sasuke said lazily latching onto his hand until the blonde pulled him up.

"Lazy bastard," Naruto mumbled rolling his eyes.

Sasuke just smirked and dusted himself off. They were about halfway to Nico's house when Sasuke's phone rang.

He pulled it out and looked at the screen before he answered, "Kakashi?"

"_Yeah, stick close to the others until they get home, try and keep them together for as long as possible. There's been another attack, we'll tell you more when we find out what happened, make sure Sakura and Ryo stick with you, stay as a group. Tell the others there was an attack if you need to just make sure no one goes off alone, we'll call when we get home, until then see if you can stay at Nico's."_

"Okay, have you called the old man? Just to let him know what happened and that we're all okay," Sasuke asked him glancing at the others, Kakashi would understand he was sure.

"_Yeah, he might be sending another team if things get worse but I think we might be nearly at the bottom of this."_

"Right, well just so long as he's not worried, don't worry I'm keeping an eye on Naruto," Sasuke told him, said blonde poked his tongue out, "I'll tell the others, see you both later then."

He flipped the phone closed and immediately walked off in the direction of Sakura and Ryo, he yelled back over his shoulder, "There's been another attack, stick together everyone."

"What? But that's impossible…" Diran said panicking.

"Don't worry, I'm sure whatever it is won't attack us if we stay in a group, all the attacks have been on one person at a time when no one else was around," Nico soothed him as they followed Sasuke to join up with the others.

Naruto tried not to think of the timing of it all. But what was he supposed to think when his friend had disappeared minutes before the attack telling him to watch Nico? Only slightly suspicious, Naruto kept his suspicions to himself, he would say nothing until he was absolutely certain. He owed him that much at least.

OoOoO

"Right well I've told them, we'd better head over to the police station," Kakashi said pulling a black shirt on as Iruka walked out of the bathroom drying his hair.

"Good, did you tell them where it was?" he asked grabbing his own shirt.

"No I figured we can give them the details later it'd probably be a bit suspicious for them to know too much about it, things slip out when people get worried," the grim older man told him as they left for the police station to view the latest crime scene.

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**Well let me know what you thought and stuff okay?**


	32. Chapter 32

**Ok well I said it'd be quick this time, I hope you guys like it, it is building and I have the feeling things are going to start moving a lot quicker now.**

* * *

"Of course you can all stay here for as long as you need to," Ria told them all soothingly, "Where's Dan?"

"He left a while before we heard about the attack, he should have had long enough to get home safely," Naruto told her with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Sasuke watched him and made a note to ask about it later when they had some time alone.

"If any of you need to you can stay over the night and if either of you boys wants to call your parents you can, they might like to know that you're safe," she told Diran and Ryo in a motherly voice.

"Thank you very much," Ryo said politely, "Where might I find the phone?"

"Well you might find it down the hall here," she led the two boys away to the phone.

"Sassi," Nico said hurriedly, "Do you have Dan's number on your mobile? Can you ring and make sure he's okay?"

"I don't think I have it Nic," the raven said apologetically as he scrolled through the numbers on his phone, "Nope sorry."

"How about you Rae?" she asked hopefully.

"I don't even have a phone Nico," the blonde boy told her softly, "Don't worry he'll be fine, he had plenty of time to get home."

"But what if it was him that was attacked?" she worried, "We should never have let him go off alone."

"I think Kakashi would have said something if that was the case, the principal probably would have told him if it was one of his students," Sasuke tried to calm the worried girl.

"I wish I knew his phone number, next time I see him I am going to make sure I get his number!" Nico declared impulsively as Diran rejoined them.

"Get whose number?" he asked casually, although Sasuke noted the tightening around his eyes trying not to smile.

"Dan's! That way I won't have to worry about him when he does something stupid like this," she said triumphantly.

"You're acting like he's your boyfriend or something," Kae teased.

"He is not!" she replied hotly, "He's just an idiot, I worry about all of you, you know that."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you reckon," her cousin poked her tongue out at her.

"Don't worry you're just as stupid and I worry about you too," the blue haired girl sniffed.

OoOoO

"Alright, what happened and who did it happen to?" Kakashi asked as soon as they walked in.

"Detective Carr was taken from his office, the whole area has been cordoned off for you to examine sir," the officer at the front desk told him standing to lead the pair to said office.

"What was he doing at the time?" Iruka asked.

"Going over the physical evidence from the last crime scene acting on some of your hunches and ideas," he told the younger man flinching at the look Kakashi was giving him.

"Enough avoiding the subject, what did he actually do?" the jounin asked directly.

"See for yourself," the officer said directing them to the office. It had police tape across the door and a few officers stationed outside the open door.

They both walked in and saw what the officer had obviously been avoiding talking about. The detective had taken out all of the braches and flowers and leaves out of their evidence bags and reconstructed the altar down to every detail. The office had been trashed, consistent with a struggle and the window was smashed.

"Idiot!" Kakashi fumed, "Total utter moron! How could he be so stupid?"

"It was deliberate," Iruka said softly, "My guess is he wanted this to be solved no matter the cost, he tried to give us what no one else could."

"Yeah but we need to know who is directing the creature and him sacrificing himself really doesn't help us with that," Iruka could feel the waves of infuriated chakra rolling off his boyfriend. He calmly placed his hand on the older man's shoulder.

"Let's just find what he's left us to work with shall we?" the brunette suggested. He pressed the stop button on the webcam and began searching the cupboards for hidden cameras. The detective was obviously a very thorough and dedicated man, he had placed three cameras aside from the webcam on his computer which had been running the whole time. Iruka started watching the webcam footage whilst Kakashi began on one of the other cameras.

OoOoO

The teens had decided to have their own Lord of the Rings marathon while they were all basically under house arrest. Kani, Mikel and Ria had all joined them immediately while it was a bit longer before a rather dressed up looking Torya and Jules joined them.

"Where were you guys?" Sasuke whispered when the couple sat down.

"We went out to a club for the night but then mum called all frantic so we thought we'd better head home before she had a heart attack. I was having fun too," he sighed wistfully.

"More fun than a Lord of the Rings marathon with all of us?" Naruto asked jokingly.

"I know, how could we possibly top that?" Jules agreed lightly.

"Shh, this is one of my favourite bits," Torya ordered.

"You love any bit with Merry and Pippin," his boyfriend smiled tolerantly.

"Either shut up or get lost," Nico's eldest brother growled. The other just chuckled and leaned against him.

OoOoO

The videos were downright tedious, but the duo's attention to their mission wouldn't allow them to press the fast forward button, still, there really isn't much interest in watching a police officer type up reports.

"Have you seen anything yet?" Iruka asked tiredly, their actions from earlier were catching up on the young teacher.

"Nothing, he must have set these up first thing this morning, bloody long videos, I hope they caught what we need," Kakashi said stretching whilst keeping one eye trained on the small screen.

OoOoO

Much as he loved the trilogy watching the bits of Two Towers with only Sam and Frodo was annoying. And Naruto could think of much more interesting things to do, although most of them probably couldn't be done in Nico's house, unfortunately.

"Teme," the bored blonde whispered.

"What?" Sasuke whispered back, this was his least favourite of the three, he'd seen it way too many times.

"Want to go do something else?" Naruto offered.

A myriad possibilities popped into his head, none of which were rated G, nor even PG for that matter, Kakashi would have been proud.

"Sure," the Uchiha agreed, ever the eloquent one.

The two stood up quietly and left the room, they sat down in the kitchen and Sasuke made them each a hot drink, chocolate for Naruto and tea for himself. As was usual in Ria's house there was a barrel of homemade bikkies in the middle of the table so Naruto helped himself.

"I have seen that movie way too many times," Sasuke sighed sipping his tea.

"The Frodo and Sam parts annoy me, actually so do the bits with Arwen and Aragorn. She was awesome in the start but then she got all annoying," Naruto explained biting into a biscuit.

"Yeah I know what you mean, I only ever got halfway through the second book," Sasuke admitted, "I really should finish it someday."

"I never actually started," Naruto chuckled, "Keeping up with you never left me much spare time."

"It's not my fault I'm awesome," Sasuke smirked at the smaller blonde.

"That's not what I said," his boyfriend said, his eye twitching slightly.

The raven boy grinned, "Its okay dear I can read between the lines," he winked.

"Oh my god, Sasuke Uchiha winked at me!" Naruto exclaimed fanning himself, "Oh just wait until I tell the girls back home, Sasuke winks, the flirty bastard. Oh wow, Ino is going to melt."

It was Sasuke's turn to twitch slightly, Naruto came out with some random shit when he was bored, "Too bad for them, I don't share."

"Oh of course your royal Uchihaness, I wouldn't make you share with anyone," he pretended to think for a second, "So I had better move our beds apart when we get home, don't let me forget."

The Uchiha chuckled, "Okay so maybe I can survive sharing if I must."

"Do you think we'll actually be going home tonight?" Naruto asked seriously.

"I don't know, I guess it depends how long they're needed, they'll probably call up and then swing by to pick us up. After all they couldn't just let us walk home alone. Although it might be safer if we stay here," Sasuke told him, the blonde watched his eyes, clearing picking up the double meaning of the words.

Naruto led the raven down the hallway into an empty room, "I think you'd better know what Dan said before he left, you might be able to find a different meaning."

OoOoO

Iruka jumped and pressed pause, his eyes wide and at the same time he heard Kakashi whistle.

"Holy shit…"

* * *

**I know, holy shit! I did a cliffhanger!**

**Now I'm bloody tired so I am going to bugger off to bed if you don't mind. Let me know what you thought.**

**Not about me buggering off. About the chapter.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Hey everyone sorry this took longer than expected but my computer decided to shat itself briefly and clear the nearly completed chapter at the soul destroying hour of three in the morning. Love it when that happens eh? Anyway I hope you like it...**

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Sasuke listened carefully, "It doesn't sound too good does it?" he admitted when the blonde had finished.

"Well I was hoping maybe you could find some other possible explanation," Naruto told him tiredly, "As suss as it sounds I really can't believe that he could have done anything like this."

"Maybe he knows who is behind it but doesn't want to say anything," the raven suggested lamely, "I mean he only said she would be, he couldn't give any specifics which tends to suggest he knows why it is happening and can guess from that who will be the next victim."

"That could be it," the blonde said, not convinced.

Sasuke wrapped the smaller boy in his arms and kissed his forehead, "Anyway, until we're sure it really wouldn't be a good idea to focus on him too closely, we don't want to get target fixation and ignore all other options."

Naruto wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and rested his head on the pale shoulder, "What would I do without you?"

"Die a horribly painful ramen induced death?" the Uchiha suggested.

"Idiot," the blonde laughed.

OoOoO

"Holy shit…" Iruka repeated.

"Yeah you're not kidding," Kakashi replied looking at him, "I am guessing we are both seeing the same thing."

"That depends, does what you're seeing resemble some sort of owl demon in any way?" the darker man asked weakly.

"If by resemble you mean look exactly like, then yes it does," Kakashi pressed the play button and watched silently as an owl demon flew in through the window and grabbed the detective. The man tried to run and knocked his chair over and papers flew off his desk, obviously not what the man had been expecting when he decided to sacrifice himself for the sake of the case. The ninja watched in horror as the demon tightened its claws around the man's neck until his face turned black and he stopped struggling, at which point it hooted happily and flew out the same way it had come in, carrying the body with it. Most amazingly it disappeared as soon as it was outside.

"Fucking idiot!" Kakashi cursed in a voice so low it was almost inaudible. Once more Iruka could feel the wild chakra coming in waves from his lover.

"Kakashi Hatake!" Iruka said in the same voice he used so effectively on his young students, the chakra stopped suddenly and the jounin looked up almost guiltily, "Stop that this instant. We are going to take this video and pick up the kids, go home, tell them what happened, and go to bed. They will be going crazy trying to work this out."

The chunin grabbed the older man's hand and dragged him past all of the confused looking officers. One man had the guts to give them a little whistle after they had passed but Iruka merely fixed him with a high powered glare before they made their way to Nico's.

OoOoO

Sasuke and Naruto made their way back to the lounge room in time to see the last few minutes of the Two Towers. Apparently the others hadn't even noticed their disappearance, well most of the others anyway, the young couple got a wink from Torya and Jules causing both boys to turn an extremely interesting shade of red.

Nico stood up to stretch to swap the DVDs over.

_I've got something to put in you! I've got something to put in you! I've got something to put in you! At the gay bar! Gay bar! Gay bar!_

There was a moment of silence in the room. Then Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kae, Ria, Kani, Mikel and Jules burst out laughing. Diran and Ryo both blushed, Nico groaned and Torya smirked.

"I'll get it," Ria told them standing to get the door. She found two very red men on the doorstep.

Iruka was the first to recover, he cleared his throat and stepped forward holding out his hand, "Hello, I'm Iruka Umino."

"Ah Iruka, nice to finally meet you, I'm Ria," she shook his hand warmly and pulled him into a hug, "And this must be your husband."

Iruka blushed as she released him, "Um actually-"

"Not yet," Kakashi grinned stepping forward, "Kakashi Hatake, nice to meet you Ria, I have your daughter for maths."

"Aahh nice to meet you Kakashi," the woman pulled him into a quick hug also, "Come on in won't you? You must be here for the children."

"Mum!" Mikel complained loudly.

"Of course, sorry, you must here for the teenagers," she turned to her youngest, "Better dear?" He nodded.

"This is Mikel, my youngest son, you know Nico of course, this is Kani," she pointed to each of them, "And this is my oldest, Torya and his boyfriend Jules. Torya is the one who chose the doorbell, he can be slightly strange at times."

"Mum!" Torya pouted mockingly, he turned to Jules, "You don't think I'm strange do you?"

"Love, I _know_ you," he laughed kissing the boy lightly.

"Nobody understands me," he sighed.

"Of course dear," his mother said, she turned back to the teachers, "Do you know all the others?"

"Yes, I think everyone else is in our classes," Kakashi hide a grin, as soon as the teachers had entered the room Sakura had dropped the Kandra kid's hand. As if they didn't already know.

"Would you like a hot drink? We were about to watch the Return of the King if you'd like to join us," Ria invited.

"Oh we really-" Iruka began.

"I could really do with a coffee if it wouldn't be too much trouble," Kakashi grinned tiredly, "It's been a long night."

Iruka looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Would you like something too dear?" Ria asked pleasantly.

"Oh um tea would be nice thank you," the younger teacher looked around as the woman made her way to the kitchen, "Where is Dan? I thought he was with the rest of you?"

Nico jumped up, "He wasn't hurt was he? He wasn't involved in the attack in any way right?"

Three of the teens started at her choice of words.

Iruka tried to soothe the blue haired girl, "Its ok Nico, we didn't hear anything about Dan, he definitely was not attacked. It's okay." Unthinking he gathered the girl into his arms and rubbed her back gently, "If it makes you feel any better we can go drop by his house on the way home, just for you."

"You don't mind?" she looked up hopefully. Sasuke watched as Diran's face flashed with anger.

"Of course not," the young teacher smiled at her, "We'll call you when we get home."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she pushed the brunette away, "Get going!"

"Yes as good as that sounds, I smell coffee," Kakashi said dryly, "Tempting as the idea of falling asleep on the way home is."

"Kashi don't be silly," as soon as the little nickname left his lips Iruka froze and turned bright red.

Kakashi grinned and Iruka looked mortified. Sasuke held back his chuckle only with years of practice with Naruto.

Speaking of the blonde, he walked up to the jounin with his arms crossed over his chest and glared.

"If you so much as touch Iruka I will burn all of your Icha Icha Paradises," he growled lowly at the silver-haired teacher, "Do I make myself clear?"

Kakashi swallowed thinking of his book collection, "Perfectly."

"Good," Naruto fumed, Sasuke hid the grin threatening to break out across his face with smirk. He decided to pull his blonde away to watch the beginning of the third movie with the other teens.

"He wouldn't really burn them would he?" Kakashi looked pleadingly at his boyfriend.

Iruka raised an eyebrow, "I don't doubt it."

"Would you like to come sit down?" Ria asked holding two mugs.

"I might go watch the start of the movie if that's alright," Kakashi said still deep in thought.

"Of course, go right ahead," she told him handing him one of the mugs, "Why don't you come sit down in the kitchen and chat for a while Iruka?"

"Thank you," he smiled gratefully, "That sounds nice." They sat at the kitchen table and Ria slid the bikkie jar over to the man.

"How are you adjusting to looking after the ki- um teenagers?" the woman asked smiling, "From what I hear its quite a jump."

"It wasn't too bad," Iruka smiled back, getting lost in his memories, "I've known the three of them since they were only little, I taught them long before Kakashi got his hands on them."

"You and Naruto seem very close," she said fondly, looking into the lounge room where the two teens sat wrapped up together.

"Yeah, he's never had parents, I didn't want him to grow up alone like I did. I see way too much of myself in him," the young man's expression was rueful, "I hope I've helped."

"Oh your job is not over yet I'm sure," Ria patted his hand, "It only gets harder from here. You're going to have to be very patient; something I don't think will be a problem for you. You will see a lot of things you won't want to and you're both going to hurt each other quite a bit without meaning to but things will definitely get better. It's all worth it, however hard it may be to sit on the sidelines sometimes." Her eyes moved to watch her eldest son whisper something to his boyfriend, "If you need any help with any of them just let me know, I'll help you out in any way I can."

"Thank you," Iruka said simply.

"Are you ready to head off?" Kakashi asked hesitantly putting his hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, glancing quickly towards the lounge room.

Iruka laughed, "Yeah we'd better go check on Dan before Nico explodes."

Ria smiled fondly, "She'll work it out eventually I'm sure. You might need to talk to Naruto about his protectiveness Iruka darling. We wouldn't want to deprive your man of his books now would we?"

* * *

**I have to say this because I found it funny, the one big cliffhanger I have ever done and I got pretty much more reviews than ever before... If I don't get many reviews I might have to do it again. No I am not evil I just don't have a soul XD**

**So please review! You have probably noticed that yes I do actually read them and reply and if anyone has any ideas I usually find a way to work them in and solve any problems or issues that may occur.**

**Now for lunch. At 5 in the afternoon. Screwed body clock or what?**


	34. Chapter 34

**Wow I am so sorry that it took so long and is not that good but life has gotten really busy and I have not really had a chance to write anything that isn't uni related So I hope you guys like it and I will warn you ahead of time this is a kinda angsty chapter.**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

There was a woman with milky white eyes waiting in the doorway when the ninjas arrived at the address they had gotten from the school records.

"Come in, I've been waiting for you," she informed them walking back inside, "My son is safe and asleep in bed. I'm sure he knows about the attack by now, he's always been rather sensitive to these things, unlike Tianna."

All five following ninja just looked confused at the oddly conversational woman.

"Who's Tianna?" Naruto asked finally.

"Dannarin's older sister," she said rather disdainfully, "I'm not surprised he hasn't mentioned her, totally ungifted, she's gone away to university to become a doctor," the woman sneered, "She was always far too worried about the opinions of others."

"So, uh did you need to speak to us?" Iruka asked politely.

The woman turned to the teacher her face taking on a sly look, "Perhaps Mr Umino-Hatake, I should be asking you the same question."

Iruka looked startled, "That's not my name."

"Not yet, but I do not deal entirely in the present. Would you like to know who I see?" She turned to Kakashi, "Kakashi Hatake-Umino." She looked to Iruka, "Iruka Umino-Hatake." She looked at Sasuke and Naruto, "Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha Uzimaki." She looked at Sakura, "And you Sakura Haruno, are not yet certain of your path. Until the path is made the destination remains unseen."

"Well as interesting as this all is we came to check up on your son," Kakashi said boredly.

She turned her blind eyes to Naruto, "His room is the first one on the left," she pointed down the hallway, "I'm sure you can check on him on your own, please try not to wake him, he didn't sleep well last night and I fear tonight shall be no better."

"Um sure," Naruto agreed biting his lip, this was not what he had been expecting. He made his way down the hallway and slowly opened the door and slowly walked into the room silently.

"Fuck off!" Dan hissed violently and Naruto froze, he had never heard the boy talk like that.

"Just stay the fuck away from me! I hate you!" as his eyes adjusted to the light Naruto realised the boy's eyes were closed, he was dreaming and it didn't sound pleasant.

"You tried to ruin my whole life you bastard!" as the blonde moved closer he could see tears running down the normally laid back boys cheeks, he leaned in to wipe them away when he heard the next comment, "I'm not gay you fucking monster!"

Naruto froze and quickly left the room to rejoin the others.

"He's fine," he reported tersely.

"I told you so," the woman smirked, "He's a perceptive lad, you would be wise to heed his warnings and premonitions. If you don't believe then you can leave my home, I have no space for unbelievers."

In silence they left the house and made their way back to their own home in the misty dark hours of the morning.

"I'll go call Nico," Sakura said, finally breaking the silence.

"Thank you," Iruka smiled, "And then I think it is time for bed for all of us, we'll need to be on our guard, I am sure whoever is behind it has realised by now that their creature has attacked without their orders."

"Yeah," Naruto said tiredly, "I just want to sleep."

Sasuke watched him worriedly but said nothing.

"Well good night then," Iruka smiled giving the small blonde and quick hug, "Turn your alarms off, I think you can have a little sleep in tomorrow."

"Hm," Naruto said in a non-committal way, walking up the stairs, Sasuke shrugged a good night and followed him. The raven closed the bedroom door behind them.

"What's wrong dobe?" the Uchiha asked moving to pull him into a hug, the blonde stepped away and shook his head.

"Look Sasuke I'm just tired, can we do this some other time?" his eyes had a dead look to them, the kind of look he had seen when they were younger.

"Of course, you know I'm here for you right?" Sasuke asked, examining the blonde carefully.

"Yeah," the blonde turned away and changed quickly climbing into the very edge of their homemade double bed. Sasuke followed somewhat slowly changing and turning off the light before he finally climbed in his own side.

OoOoO

"What do you think is wrong with Naruto?" Iruka asked the man wrapped bodily around him.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure Sasuke will sort things out without us having to interfere," the jounin said lazily kissing up the tanned neck.

"Night Kashi," the younger teacher said nuzzling the silver hair as he drifted off into nightmares.

OoOoO

All Naruto's dreams featured the boy he considered to be one of his best friends, his face hideously contorted with rage as he yelled various insults. Homo. Fag. Sicko. Monster.

That one hurt the most.

Suddenly he was back in Konoha with the rest of the rookie nine. And Dan standing there hurling insults, turning his back in disgust.

"Always knew there was something wrong with him," the villagers muttered.

"Gay and a demon, how appropriate."

"Monster."

"Demon."

"Evil."

One by one their expressions turned to sneers and they left the little blonde standing alone in the street. He collapsed to his knees and bawled.

OoOoO

Sasuke woke to an odd noise, he leaped to his feet, worried that the creature had found them. When his mind cleared he realised the noise was a whimper coming from the boy on their joined beds. In a flash he was at the boy's side trying to wake him gently.

"Naruto wake up. Naruto! Dobe! It's alright wake up," he stroked the tanned cheek and rubbed his back in calming circles.

Blue eyes opened warily, pain evident behind the tears threatening to fall.

"Thank goodness you're awake are you alright?" Sasuke asked worriedly.

The blonde almost launched himself into the other arms sobbing.

"Naruto?" the raven asked in alarm, "What's the matter? What happened?"

He wrapped his arms tightly around the smaller boy, once more rubbing his back in what he hoped was a comforting way.

"I can't believe he… why would he… they wouldn't just…" Naruto mumbled into Sasuke's chest.

"What's wrong love?" the Uchiha asked softly.

The blonde stiffened in his arms and looked up at him with red rimmed eyes, "Why would he do that Sasuke?"

"Why would who do what?" he asked gently.

"Dan, I-I thought he was my friend, I thought he was okay with it, with us, but…." The blonde trailed off sniffling.

"Naruto what happened? Did he say something to you?" Sasuke gently wiped away the boy's tears staring intently, holding back his rage at the broken look.

"It was- he was just dreaming- but he, he said I'm not… I'm not gay you monster," fresh tears began to fall down his cheeks, "You should have seen the hate in his face when he said it. I just… it made me remember the people back home. All those long years… I mean who else could he have been talking to?"

His breathing was ragged and Sasuke pulled him completely into his lap and rested his cheek on the blonde locks.

"Naruto he was just dreaming, I'm sure it wasn't anything like that, you know he wouldn't do that," the raven soothed.

"That's just it, I barely know the guy, I didn't know he had a sister or that his mother was…eccentric. I don't know anything about him, he might really feel that way."

"Who was the first person to congratulate us?"

"Well him but-"

"Naruto there's no point in worrying about buts, I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise. That's what being your boyfriend is all about, I want to be there for you. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about but you can be sure that you have at least one person who will never abandon you," Sasuke kissed the top of the blonde head.

"Thank you," Naruto replied drowsily.

"You're welcome, now lie down it's been a big day."

The smaller boy shifted and snuggled down under the blankets with Sasuke joining him and quickly pulling him into his arms. Within a moment Naruto was sleeping peacefully with a slight smile on his lips. The raven kissed his cheek softly.

He was going to have to have a very serious conversation with "Dannarin" tomorrow.

OoOoO

Iruka stood in front of a furious Naruto.

"Naruto what's wrong?" the young teacher asked kindly.

"You just don't understand! You pretend you do but you don't! Why can't you be more like my friend's mums? At least they care!" he screamed at him.

"Naruto I'm not your mother," Iruka said confusedly.

The blonde looked broken, "What do you mean?"

"Naruto, silly, I'm not your mother, I've never been your mother," he chuckled until he saw the boy's face.

"Was I adopted?" Naruto asked crumbling, "But… I can't… you can't…why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Naruto what are you talking about?" Iruka was beyond confused.

"Hey what's going on in here?" Kakashi asked smiling as he walked into the kitchen.

"Is it true Dad? Was I adopted? Is that why no one likes me?"

Kakashi looked startled and Iruka swept the boy into his arms, "Oh Naruto that's not true, I love you, lots of people love you. Kakashi loves you, Sakura loves you and Sasuke loves you most of all."

The boy stiffened in his arms and wrenched away, "Why would you say that?"

He ran crying from the room.

Kakashi gave him a dirty look, "Oh well done Iruka, now why did you have to go and say that?"

Iruka shot up in bed panting.

He looked around, it was all a dream but it felt so real. The emotions in Naruto's eyes had scared him beyond anything he had ever experienced.

"'Ruka lay back down, it's cold," Kakashi grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back down.

"I- I have to go get a drink you go back to sleep Kashi," Iruka wrapped the blankets tightly around the other man and stood up still shaking slightly and made his way down to the kitchen in the pale light of dawn. He froze when he saw someone standing in the middle of the kitchen looking out the window. He relaxed when he realised it was Sakura.

"Couldn't sleep either?" he asked softly.

She started a little and turned to look at the chunin, "Nope, you either huh? Strange night for everyone I guess."

"Did you want to talk about it?" he offered sitting at the table.

She sat down opposite him, "Something that woman said really got to me. The whole path thing you know? I mean I can see what's going to happen with you guys. You all go home together and live happily ever after together but what about me? What happens to me? You're lucky. You don't have any secrets from Kakashi. And Sasuke and Naruto share everything, no issues. But I finally find someone who is interested in me as a person and I only have such a limited time with them. And I don't even know if they like me for me seeing as they don't really know me. He can't really know me because there's almost nothing about my past I can tell him. And as interesting as an enigma may be there comes a time when you just want to know something concrete. I can't tell him anything! Do you know how frustrating that is? I just want to scream sometimes, or tell him everything. Not only that but I can't even rule him out as a suspect as much as I want to discount him completely. How can a relationship exist like that? Will I even be able to tell him before I leave? No bloody wonder she couldn't see a path for me."

"I wish I could help Sakura," Iruka said sadly, "But I can't let you tell him anything, not just because it's a secret but because I don't want to have to tell you if he gets hurt because of what he knows. I won't let anybody put him in that kind of danger, for your sake, I don't want you to have to carry that guilt, trust me it is far worse than what you carry now."

"I know," she whispered, eyes filling with tears, "But I still wish he could get to know me."

"He is getting to know you, everything that is important to know," Iruka told her gently, "He is getting to know how you smile, how you laugh, your sense of humour, your quick temper, your caring for your friends and team mates, your devotion to him. What more does he need to know? He doesn't need to know why you do, just that you do, trust me, if the time comes when you can tell him everything he will know that the most important things about you are the things he already knows."

Sakura's lips curled into a small but honest smile, "Thank you Iruka, I never thought of it that way."

"I'm glad I could help, now you really should sleep."

The young teacher stood and the girl chased after him and gave him a quick hug before she walked silently up the stairs.

Iruka watched her fondly and then went back to his own room and the lightly dozing Kakashi. As soon as he laid down he felt the arms wrap around him.

This time his sleep was untroubled.

* * *

**Ok well I hope you liked it and I know better by now than to promise anything about the next chapter but please review and make an authors day.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Hey guys I was a bit quicker this time, it is getting very close to the finish. I hope you like it. I apologise for the angst and stuff but it had to happen eventually and I am sure you all realised that.**

* * *

It was still early when the phone rang, Kakashi had been cooking breakfast for the others when he heard it. He hadn't wanted to wake the others but he suddenly felt something important had happened, something bad.

He turned the stove off before he picked up the phone.

"Yes?" he demanded quickly.

"Oh Kakashi thank god, I need help, no one else is answering," the frantic woman sobbed.

"Ria what's wrong?"

"Its Nico, I can't find her anywhere, there's no note and I can't get on to anyone else. I wouldn't ask but with the attacks and the monster and everything I just don't know what to do and-"

"Ria, stay right where you are, we'll handle everything so don't worry about it. I'll send Iruka over to stay with you. Please don't call anyone else, we'll let the police know and everything," Kakashi ordered kindly.

"Thank you Kakashi," she sighed, "I have the boys here with me, they're all ok but no one saw or heard her leave."

"Ok well you just go rest, we'll handle it. Bye," Kakashi said hanging up quickly before she could say anything more. The jounin went to wake his team, things were happening far more quickly now and he knew what it would do to all of them if the strange blue haired girl was killed.

He woke Sakura first, told her calmly to get dressed in her usual mission clothes, arm herself and everything, then he woke Iruka and told him the same, he woke up Sasuke and told him to do the same to Naruto, obviously the boy was a little fragile at the moment and he figured it was better just to let the Uchiha handle him.

Kakashi went to get dressed himself, the time for blowing their cover had come, there would be no need to pretend any longer.

OoOoO

The ninja all gathered in the lounge room all looking slightly confused in their regular gear which felt odd after being undercover.

"The time for cover is gone, we have to finish this now. Nico has disappeared," he told them in a businesslike tone, trying not to be affected by the loss of colour in Sasuke's face as he clutched at his boyfriend's shoulder as well as the strong reactions from all the others.

"When?" Naruto demanded, suddenly looking far more in control. Iruka marvelled at the strength of their relationship, already they balanced each other and compensated for whatever the other was currently lacking, they had made the perfect choice in each other.

"We don't know, first we're going to split up, Sakura and I will go back to the park to reinvestigate the park and the cave, Sasuke and Naruto I want you to scout the area around her house and the surrounding area. Iruka I need you to go examine her room and the house and comfort Ria, she sounds on the verge of collapsing," Kakashi ordered, "Any questions?"

They all shook their heads, "Good get going then, keep in constant contact I want to know immediately if anything changes."

OoOoO

Iruka reached the door and hesitated, pushing the doorbell didn't seem like the most tactful thing he could do right now. Instead he knocked on the door.

Kae answered the door, "Thanks," she said simply.

"No problems," Iruka gave her a small smile as she led him into the kitchen where Ria was sitting.

She jumped up at the young teacher, "Oh Iruka, I don't know what happened, I never heard anything."

"Calm down Ria, the others are all out looking," he tapped his earpiece, "As soon as they know anything they'll let me know."

"Thank you," she sobbed falling into the chunin's arms.

"Now Ria, would you like a cup of tea or coffee or something while we wait?" he asked pleasantly stroking the older woman's back comfortingly.

"Now you listen to me young man, this is my house and if anyone is going to offer drinks around here it'll be me," she pulled away sniffling slightly, "What would you like?"

"Could I have a cup of tea please?" he asked politely, "We didn't have much time for anything other than a quick breakfast."

"That'll never do," she frowned disapprovingly as she sat down, "Torya get in here now and make Iruka some breakfast, Kani you can come and make us a pot of tea thank you!"

The boys wandered in looking worried, Torya gave him a little smile, "Why didn't you use the bell? I changed it especially."

Kani rolled his eyes, "Not everyone is as stupid as you Tor."

"Aww come on," he whined, "Isn't anyone even slightly curious?"

"No, get cooking young man or Jules can stay in the spare bedroom from now on," Ria threatened.

"Right one breakfast coming up."

"That's alright you don't have to," Iruka protested.

"Don't worry about it, I'm still doing my apprenticeship in the kitchen but I'm sure it'll be edible," Torya winked.

OoOoO

The two boys circled in around behind the family's home checking for any sign of any sort of struggle.

"Well the window isn't open," Naruto observed, "And there doesn't seem to be any sort of marks of a visitor in the yard. If she was taken it wasn't here. Where to next?"

"Let's have a quick look around the streets here and see if we can find anything suspicious," Sasuke said in a dead voice.

"Sasuke, we're going to find her," Naruto said calmly, "She's ok I know it."

"If we had just listened to Dan in the first place we never would have had to worry about this," he fumed.

"Well we didn't know did we? And no one was awake enough last night to be thinking clearly."

"It's our job to think clearly! It's all our fault!"

"All the more reason to find her quickly," Naruto told him grimly.

OoOoO

The park seemed the same as the last time they had visited. They circled around to make sure they didn't miss anything. When they were certain they went to investigate the cave, in the back the door they had discovered last time was slightly ajar.

"This is Kakashi, we're in the cave, the door is slightly open so we're going to go in and investigate. If we don't contact you in 10 minutes call for reinforcements and seal off the area," he ordered into his communicator.

He looked at Sakura, "You ready for this?"

She nodded with a fire in her eyes.

"Good let's go."

They each pulled a kunai from their weapons pouches and Kakashi slowly pushed the door open and they walked deeper into the cave, eyes everywhere at once.

OoOoO

They circled the area three times before they spotted it poking out from under a bush. Naruto was the one who spotted it, "Is that a mobile phone?"

Sasuke felt his guts clench up, "That's Nico's phone," he whispered, "She never takes it anywhere. What's it doing out here?"

Naruto picked it up, it was still working and luckily for them it was turned on. He felt kinda guilty looking through her messages, until he realised that there weren't any.

"Maybe someone called her…" Naruto suggested, he looked through her call records, "The last call she received was at eight this morning from Diran…"

"The only reason she would ever wake up that early is if someone asked her to," Sasuke said quietly, "And I think Diran is one of the few she would do that for. She has a crush on him."

"Where would he take her?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know! I don't know anything about the bastard!" Sasuke fumed, "But when I get my hands on him I am going to kill him."

The raven's chakra whipped wildly around him.

"Woah teme, no target fixation remember? Until we know for sure it could be anyone," Naruto tried to calm him, "Iruka? We found Nico's phone, the last call on it is from Diran, we're going to go check out the school's records for his address and then go see what we can find."

"_Ok good luck."_

They made their way to the school office once more.

OoOoO

Sakura and Kakashi followed the silent pathway down the tunnel they had already explored to the altar. Once more there was a photo however this time the blue coloured hair lying on the altar was unmistakable.

Sakura gasped, "So she was definitely taken then…"

"Looks like it," he examined the photo, "It's a school photo so whoever is behind this is either in her class or has access to the school's photo library."

"I think too many people have disappeared from our year level to be anyone other than a student with a grudge," Sakura said thoughtfully.

"We had better go explore the other passage."

"Without back up?" Sakura asked a little nervously.

"We can't spare anyone right now Sakura," Kakashi told her, "Alright Iruka we're fine, we are fairly certain Nico was taken, the photo on the altar has been changed to one of her and there's blue hair next to it."

Iruka sighed, _"Alright keep me up to date."_

"Yeah, we're going to explore the rest of the cave now, if you haven't heard from us in 10 minutes you know the procedure."

"_Alright Kashi, please be careful."_

"Of course love."

* * *

**Feels like it's building to something doesn't it? Let's hope it is! Hope you liked it. Let me know what you thought!  
**


	36. Chapter 36

**Quick huh? Like I said it's building and pulling me in more. I want to finish but I am so tired and sick right now. Right so on DA I put this under a warning for language and violence/gore so that should give you some warning.**

**Hope you like it!**

* * *

"What are they saying?" Ria demanded gripping her tea cup tightly.

Iruka sighed, "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Please Iruka I just need to know, no matter what," her gaze was determined but scared.

"Well they haven't found her but they found her mobile, the boys are going to see if they can find Diran and see if he knows anything, the last call was from him at eight this morning," Iruka explained.

"And? What else Iruka?" she demanded, "I know there's more.

"Ok well first off, you probably need to know that we are ninja on a mission to solve the mystery behind the people going missing. We have been investigating since we got here and we found a cave in the park after Amaya went missing. Deep in the cave behind a secret door there is an altar, after she went missing there was a photo of Amaya and a strand of her hair on the altar," he explained uncomfortably.

She nodded for him to go on.

"And Kakashi and Sakura have just gone back to reinvestigate and on the altar they found…they found a…"

"Nico's photo was there wasn't it?" she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

Iruka looked away sadly, "I'm sorry Ria, they're doing everything they can to find her. We will do our best I swear."

"Thank you Iruka," the broken woman said wiping her eyes.

_Please hurry everyone,_ Iruka thought.

OoOoO

Sasuke and Naruto made their way to the opposite side of town where Diran lived according to the school records. They arrived in front of a large mansion and Sasuke stepped confidently up to press the doorbell (which made a regular sort of chiming noise), a tall blonde woman answered.

"May I help you?"

"Hello my name is Sasuke I was just wondering if Diran was home," Sasuke smiled politely.

"Oh, I'm not entirely sure Sasuke, I'll just find out for you, wait here," she left the door open and went to a nearby phone and dialled a short number. It was about a minute before she hung up, "Well he's not answering his phone so my guess is he's out. Did you need to see him for something?"

"Oh we were just going to go over our homework together that's all but we can do it later if he's out," Naruto grinned at her, "I don't mind at all."

The lady gave a small laugh, "Well good luck, if you find him ask him to call and let me know whether he'll be home for dinner, if you could."

"Of course," Sasuke said.

"Thank you, nice to meet you," she smiled before closing the door.

"Right where else could he be?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know! I don't know anything about him," Sasuke ran his fingers through his hair.

"We just need to sit down and work out what we know about him, come on teme," Naruto led him away.

OoOoO

Kakashi and Sakura walked slowly down the long winding passage, it was far longer than the passage to the chamber containing the altar, it didn't seem to be a natural path, there were marks which showed it had been forged by some sort of tools. Or claws, his mind added wearily.

Never before had Kakashi been this worried on a mission since his first real mission with Team 7. Having someone to go back to changed things.

He shook himself from his thoughts, this was no time to be daydreaming of a tanned brunette with beautiful long hair and-

He shook his head again and tensed when he saw a slight lightening in the passage ahead. He gestured to Sakura to slow down and she nodded as they silently crept towards the light, paying extra attention to the shadows as well. As they got closer they each moved to one side of the doorway.

Kakashi took a peek around into the lightened cavern.

OoOoO

"It's no use!" Sasuke exploded, "All I know about him is that he's Nico's friend who she has a crush on. I think the most I've ever spoken to him was that time we were sparring."

"Teme! That's it, he's her sparring partner, maybe he called her into the dojo for a little early training," Naruto said excitedly.

"Oh come on, who would fall for that?" Sasuke snorted.

"Uh, I would, if you called and asked me to come over for some early training I'd be right over," Naruto said sheepishly.

Sasuke slapped his forehead, "Naruto you are an idiot. But you and Nico are practically the same person so I think we'd better have a look at the dojo."

OoOoO

"Wake up Nico," Diran said in a strange tone.

She opened her eyes to see Diran standing in front of an owl demon, "Diran look out!" she yelled.

"Look out for what? This?" he asked smirking, "Thank you," he nodded slightly to the demon which took off out the window, vanishing from sight immediately.

"Diran what's going on?" she asked looking around the dojo.

"I just thought I'd invite you here for a little sparring," he replied examining a detail on the katana he was holding.

"I didn't bring a weapon," Nico said warily.

"Oh I know," he chuckled, it was a chilling noise.

Nico tried to stand but a sharp pain shot through her legs and she collapsed, she cried out in pain and the chuckle became a laugh.

"Now now Nico, there'll be no running," Diran scolded.

"Diran what's going on? You're scaring me," Nico said as she looked at her legs and saw the blood running from the backs of her knees.

"I told you, you're not going to run away, we're going to have a little sparring session."

OoOoO

Kakashi jerked his head and the two of them slid silently into the huge underground cavern. The cavern was made of stone and seemed to be a natural cave. The edges of the room were all in shadows from the many candles and lanterns around the room. In the centre of the room stood a large statue of an owl demon, littered around the room were bones of creatures of all size, although it had been suspected, finding the human bones was still disturbing to say the least.

As their eyes adjusted they saw that the room was empty apart from the lights, bones and the statue. They cautiously made their way to the statue through the bones which crunched sickeningly under their feet, it was impossible to avoid them all.

Kakashi examined the statue while Sakura took photos with the camera on her phone, it seemed to be the same size as the demon which had taken the detective. It looked to me made of a rough stone, the feathers were so detailed as to look real.

When he looked down Kakashi saw something clutched in the stone claws, it was… a detective badge!

The jounin jumped away and hissed at the girl, "Sakura! Get away from it now!"

Sakura looked up in alarm before leaping away to land next to her teacher, "What is it?"

"I don't know how but I think that statue IS the monster."

OoOoO

Sasuke and Naruto made their way quickly to the school and found their way to the dojo. They paused at the doors to listen.

"Come on Nico, try harder, you should at least be able to land one hit before we finish this," Diran's voice said mockingly.

Sasuke relaxed but Naruto shook his head warningly, something wasn't right about it.

"Why are you doing this you bastard?" Nico screamed hoarsely.

"I thought you wanted to spar?" he replied lightly.

"That's not what I meant and you know it! How could you… all those people…"

"Were in my way," Diran finished, "You of all people should know Nico, I always get what I want."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Sasuke burst in angrily with Naruto slightly behind him.

Diran turned around, blade held low in a menacing way, they saw Nico with cuts all over her body holding herself up on the back of a chair.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

* * *

**So what did you think? Let me know or I will be very sad and not write anymore. Now I am going to go to sleep as it feels rather like someone is trying to scoop out my eyeball with a fork. Not fun.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Hey everyone, this is a very special occasion. Not only is it one of the last chapters of New Beginnings (probably only an epilogue to come) but it is also as Ticia no Hohoemi pointed out to me in a review (see what happens when you review? :D) It is also the first anniversary of New Beginnings's uploading on here. So this is the official first birthday of New Beginnings. As such I would like to thank everyone who has ever reviewed, both old reviewers and new ones. Everyone who has ever favourited and/or watched NB, and of course every single person who has ever taken the time to read it. I really do appreciate it so thank you And now on with the story!  
**

* * *

An infuriated Dan burst into the room glaring at Diran, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

He launched himself at the slightly shorter boy who didn't struggle except the hold back the hands that attempted to rain blows on his face.

"What do you mean?" the boy sounded genuinely confused.

"How could you… my best friend… Amaya… Tiro… all the others and now Nico? It was all you?" tears coursed down his cheeks, "Why? You bastard!"

He struggled to get free so he could attack the other boy who had dropped the katana when he was attacked. Sasuke quickly leapt in and grabbed the weapon before the shocked boy could come to his senses enough to attack anyone.

"Yes Diran, I think we all want to know why," Naruto said grimly as Nico finally collapsed.

OoOoO

After all his years as a teacher watching his students graduate and go off on missions one would think Iruka had gotten used to staying behind and waiting for them to come back, safely or otherwise. This was definitely not the case. He tried to console Ria and keep her company as best he could but when he felt like a caged lion himself it was rather difficult to calm anyone. It hadn't felt this bad since Naruto's first big mission, who was he kidding? After all this time the boy pretty much was his son. His son and his lover were out there doing facing who knows what and-

_"Iruka, we…the…there's…big…I thin…might be…behind…killings…badge."_

"Kakashi? Kakashi! I can't understand what you're saying it keeps cutting out. Can you get to better reception?" Iruka asked frantically.

_"We're fine…don't worry…reinforcements. We'll…things here…talk later."_

And with that the line was dead again.

"What did he say?" Ria demanded.

"I don't really know, I think he was just checking in, I think the cave was too far under the ground to get proper reception to get the full message through," Iruka said worriedly, "At least I'm hoping he said for no reinforcements…"

OoOoO

"Well what do we do?" Sakura asked, neither had moved from their positions.

"I'm not sure, we need to know how it is being controlled, perhaps there is something we do to stop it. If worst comes to worst we may have to find a way to seal it," Kakashi said grimly.

Suddenly the statue shook out its wings and yawned.

"Is that you young master?" it asked in a weary tone, "Have you come again so soon? You know I need rest."

"No," Sakura said in a soft, soothing tone, "We're not here to drive you from your home again."

"Good, I'm tired, so very tired," it sighed and closed its eyes.

"Please, can we talk to you for a moment? We need to ask you some things," she said quickly in the same soft voice, Kakashi watched in amazement.

"Only if you're quick, I need to sleep in case the young master calls again."

"Why do you have to do as he says?" she asked softly.

It sighed again wearily, "The family of the young master freed me many years ago, I must answer the call. Never have I been called so often, I merely wish to sleep again."

"If you promise to stop answering his calls we can stop the young master calling you," Sakura told it.

"Ahh if the young master calls today I will ignore it, you have until tomorrow to stop the calls before I hunt you down," it shuddered as it slept once more.

The two ninja breathed out.

"Nicely handled Sakura," Kakashi commented, "We have to go destroy that altar."

She nodded, "I think it can pass through the ground anyway so if we can get someone to come and fill in all of the passages then no one will be able to disturb it again."

"Yeah when we get this sorted I'll get someone onto it," the jounin nodded as they began to make their way back to the altar chamber.

OoOoO

"Nico!" Naruto cried out as he caught the falling girl, as he got closer he noticed how deep the cuts were, from the amount of blood he had assumed them to be merely skin wounds, however they cut much deeper.

Sasuke held the blade out in front of him, his chakra swirling dangerously, "Dan get the hell away from him now," he growled.

The boy tried to pull away but the other held fast, he grinned at the boy as he pulled him in close to his chest, "Oh no my precious I've wanted you for far too long to let you get away now."

Dan looked up in horror, "You mean that's what this was all about? You…you killed them… all for…"

"Yes my love, all for us, just for you, so we could be together, no interruptions, no past indiscretions, nothing to get in the way of our love."

Dan's body shook uncontrollably, "Oh my god… you sick bastard…I think I'm going to be sick."

Diran let go as Dan lurched over into the corner and threw up everything in his stomach.

Naruto laid Nico on the ground once he was sure she was still alive, now he turned to face the boy who had caused so much pain to everyone.

"Why the fuck did you kill Amaya then?" he demanded, "What did she do?"

"I couldn't let an old girlfriend get in the way of my love could I?" his eyes took on a maniacal glint, "A fresh start together is better for everyone, wouldn't you agree?"

"You… you killed her just because… you used to date?" Naruto sunk to his knees, he had seen some fucked up things but normally they at least made some sort of sense. But this… this was just.

"You're insane you know that?" the blonde boy finally choked out.

"Is it insane to want to spend time with the one you love?" Diran asked harshly, "Everyone else does why do I have to be different? Don't I deserve love?"

He walked over to put his hand on Dan's shoulder as the boy dry retched, the tears still streaming down his face.

"Fuck off!" Dan hissed violently jerking away from the outstretched hand.

"But love-"

"Just stay the fuck away from me! I hate you!" he screamed closing his eyes, his hands clenching so tightly his fingernails drew blood.

"Now calm down Dan honey, you're hurting yourself, here-"

"You tried to ruin my whole life you bastard!" he screamed, his voice hoarse from the continued screaming.

"Can't you see love? I did it for you. I did it for us, so we can be together," his voice had a wheedling tone.

"I'm not gay you fucking monster!" he collapsed in sobs.

Naruto felt his heart wrench, he knew now for certain that this was the second time at least that Dan had had to live through this. No one deserved that, especially the nice laid back boy he had come to know.

The blonde stood up and launched himself at Diran, "Don't you dare touch him you bastard!"

Naruto got the element of surprise and landed a blow on Diran's unprotected cheek before the boy jumped away into a fighting stance. The blonde ran at him again swinging his arm in a backhanded blow which the boy caught, he quickly spun around catching him in the side with his knee. Diran coughed as they separated.

"Piss off Naruto this doesn't have anything to do with you," Diran said dangerously, "Why don't you go home and fuck your little boyfriend and leave us alone."

"There is no us!" Dan hissed venomously, "When will you get it you bastard."

"You will learn to love me Dannarin, I promise, as much as I love you," he replied harshly, his eyes glittering insanely.

"You sick bastard," the boy sobbed.

"We're taking you in to the police Diran, its over," Sasuke growled.

Diran ran at Sasuke and Naruto quickly punched the green haired boy in the cheek, he spun away and landed in a crouching stance. He spat out the blood and ran at Naruto, the two swung at each in the controlled movements of fighters, each attacking and blocking in an elaborate and confusing dance until Diran managed to push Naruto back towards Sasuke who had to move quickly to get the sword away before it could damage his boyfriend, while he was distracted the curly haired boy wrested the sword from his hand and held it over Nico.

"Now," he panted slightly, "No one is going to do anything stupid are they?"

Sasuke looked at the tip of the katana which rested beside his friend's neck. The blade was held negligently but the grip didn't need to be firm when he could easily complete his blow if anyone got near.

"Of course not," Naruto spat, furious at being used like that, they had both let their guard down and he knew it.

"Good, now there will be no going to the police, no attacking me and you will stay away from me and Dan. This'll be our little secret," he grinned, "I got her once, I can get her again. I think you will find my agent can be very persuasive."

"Your agent is a bit unpredictable though isn't it?" Sasuke said suddenly, "It attacked without your knowledge didn't it? We were there when you found out, you had nothing to do with the attack last night."

"So what?" he snorted, "It's not like it matters."

"How do you know your little demon won't turn on you?" Naruto asked catching on, "If there's one thing I know about demons it's that they don't react kindly to orders."

He heard the Kyuubi chuckle in his head.

"My family freed it, it promised to obey our orders," he protested, slightly less sure of himself.

"If you trouble it too often it'll probably turn on you, if there's no more family it's got nothing to worry about, if the line ends with you it won't have to worry about future orders," Sasuke said thoughtfully.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Naruto smirked, "That's how I'd do it, Kyuubi agrees."

"Well there you go straight from a demon itself, I think we can trust it," Sasuke smirked.

"What?" Diran looked confused and then his confidence returned, "Lilatu! Come to me, your master requires your help!"

Sasuke and Naruto prepared for the new arrival until it became apparent by his expression that it should have arrived.

"Lilatu! I order you to come assist me!" he screeched.

"Looks like it's not coming," Sasuke observed loudly.

Diran cackled crazily, "Ah but you forget I still have my little hostage here."

"Not for long!" Dan yelled standing up.

As the green haired boy looked away Nico grabbed the end of the blade and twisted it out of his hands, crying out as it bit deeply into the flesh of her hands she tossed it to Sasuke who picked it up and before anyone could react he had one arm around Diran's waist and the blade held firmly at his throat.

"Naruto, call the others," the Uchiha ordered, "Get Iruka to call an ambulance and the police to come here."

The tanned boy in his arms struggled wildly until he felt the blade bite into the soft skin of his neck slightly.

"Do not think for a minute that anyone will stop me from killing you if I feel I need to."

The boy stilled and turned pale.

"Good," Sasuke grunted as Naruto talked hurriedly and quietly into his communicator.

"Iruka is going to call them all, he and Ria will wait at the hospital for you Nico," Naruto informed them before he went to help the girl until the paramedics arrived.

Dan had collapsed again in the corner sobbing, "It's my fault, he killed them all because of me, Amaya, Tiro, Mr Tirai, Renru, everyone… It's my fault."

Nico ignored Naruto as she tried to stand and her legs buckled under her, the gashes to the backs of her knees oozing fresh blood, she pulled herself along the ground grunting in pain as she left bloody handprints along the floor she fought off Naruto's attempts to help her.

"Dan," she tried to get his attention, "Dan!"

He still sobbed to himself whispering and blaming himself.

She sighed in exasperation and leaned over to plant a chaste kiss on his cheek. His eyes widened and he looked at her, "Wha?"

She shook her head, "It's not your fault idiot," she gave him a light slap across the back of the head wincing as she realised she left a bloody handprint in his hair, "No one blames you for it. He's severely unhinged, messing with things you shouldn't mess with will do that to you."

Diran hissed at her from across the room until he felt the blade again.

"You can't blame yourself, no one would want that, I know I don't," she gave him a small smile.

"Thank you," he smiled back, he reached out to hug her until he realised there was nowhere he could possibly touch that wouldn't hurt the girl.

"Oh for goodness sake," she shook her head and pulled him into a hug, "I live in a household full of boys, I'm used to pain, moron."

Naruto grinned at them before he left to direct the paramedics and police inside.

The police quickly cuffed the green haired boy and led him away. When the paramedics loaded Nico onto the stretcher and wheeled her away no one disputed Dan's right to ride in the ambulance with her.

"It's going to be murder to get the blood off everything," Kakashi observed lazily as the vehicles drove away.

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**-hides from anyone feeling violent- I hope you liked it, as usual please review, especially for my baby's first birthday!**


	38. Chapter 38

**Hey guys I am trying to wrap everything up, there will be at least one more chapter after this, after all they still have to go home. **

**Hope you like it!**

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When they arrived at the hospital everyone had been kicked out of Nico's room so that all of her cuts could be treated and wrapped. The entire family was waiting out in the corridor with Iruka and Dan.

When Iruka saw them arrive he joined them and gave Kakashi a quick hug.

"So what happened?" he asked quietly.

Naruto quickly told him their side of the story before Sakura said what had happened on their end.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and started laughing.

"Thanks Sakura," they said, giving her a group hug from the pair of them.

The relief was plain on all the faces, there had been so much to lose, so much that could have gone badly wrong, so much that already had.

"Ria, how is she?" Sasuke asked the woman as they joined the group.

"Whinging, whining and complaining," she smiled.

"So basically normal."

"Yup," Kae grinned, "Back to normal."

The doctor came out to speak to them all, "Nico will be fine, all of you may go in and see her now."

"Thank you doctor," Ria gave the woman a hug and followed everyone into the room.

Nico looked at them tiredly from the bed, "Hey guys."

"Darling sister, I would have thought after all our training you should have been able to handle anything," Kani raised an eyebrow, "Exactly what the fuck happened?"

"Kani, language," Ria said scoldingly.

"He cheated," she pouted, "He attacked me while I was asleep and used a weapon, so not fair. Bastard."

For the first time she actually paid attention to the clothes of Team 7.

"You know for a bunch of gay guys you really have no taste," she commented.

"I could say the same for you," Sasuke said lazily raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," she blushed, "At least I know better now. So what's with the outfits?"

"Work clothes," Naruto shrugged.

Sakura looked around at all of them, "Idiots, we are ninja, we were sent here undercover to solve the mystery of the disappearances."

"So does that mean you guys are going to be leaving soon?" Nico asked quietly.

Kakashi looked at all of the pleading faces, "Well we couldn't leave before the memorial service, and we should probably make sure things go back to normal before we go, wouldn't want to have to come straight back."

Iruka grinned and gave him a big hug, the others all grinned at the girl on the bed.

"Sap," Iruka whispered to him.

"It's your fault," the jounin muttered back at him.

OoOoO

Naruto flopped onto the shared bed grinning. Sasuke closed the door and smiled at him.

"What're you grinning at dobe?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"It's all over, nothing more to worry about. It feels good," he closed his eyes with a relaxed smile.

He felt the lips cover his and he ran his hands up the sides of the boy leaning over him. He opened his mouth to let his boyfriend's tongue re-explore his mouth before he pushed his way back into the Uchiha's mouth. Sasuke moaned a little before he collapsed softly on the blonde's chest.

Naruto opened his eyes, "You know, you never said what Torya talked to you about," he said cheekily.

"Would you like to know Naru-chan?" the raven growled.

"Not if you're going to call me that," the blonde poked his tongue out and rolled out from under the Uchiha.

"And you call me a bastard," he muttered darkly.

OoOoO

Nico was confined to a wheelchair until the backs of her legs healed, about which she was extremely pissed, especially seeing as Torya had given himself the job of pushing her around, whether she wanted to be or not. It wasn't strange for him to just decide to randomly wheel her into another room, just because he felt like it. He particularly liked wheeling her out of the lounge room just before the end of a TV show.

For once she was actually happy to go to school, it meant no Torya.

The school held a memorial service for everyone killed by Diran's insanity and a special garden area had been landscaped to remember everyone.

The altar had been destroyed and the cave and passages had been filled, apart from the statue chamber which had been left alone, isolated and unreachable. Diran had been put in a maximum security prison on the other side of the country where his mother had said the bond would be unable to reach the demon. She had destroyed all documents with any information on the 'family demon' and swore that no more generations would learn of the debt which had long been paid.

And so all they were waiting on was Nico to get better before they would leave, going back to normal life. With their secret out in the open their daily training sessions had restarted, occasionally even allowing spectators.

Most of the female body had been devastated to learn of the two boy's unavailability, although the price for the locker room peephole had gone up exponentially until Sasuke had found and covered it form the inside.

And Sakura had been avoiding Ryo.

As much as she wanted to believe Iruka she was sure that things could never be the same. Not now that things were out in the open.

OoOoO

"Sasuke?" Sakura called into the seemingly empty classroom, "What did you need to talk to me about?"

"It's not Sasuke," a soft voice answered from behind her.

"Ryo," Sakura breathed taking a step back.

"Sakura we need to talk," he said hesitantly.

"Oh of course, I understand," she said sadly fighting back her tears.

"What's wrong?" he asked reaching out for her.

"Nothing, just hurry up and get it over with," she said lifting her chin, daring the tears to fall.

"I've been trying to find you all week. Have you been avoiding me?"

"Yes," she said softly.

"Why would you do that?" he asked in confusion.

"Because I didn't want to hear this, I thought maybe if I didn't see you before I left I wouldn't have to hear this and it would be like it never happened."

"You wish this never happened?" he asked, hurt, "But I thought things were going well…"

"So did I so can you just say what you wanted to say and get it over with?" she asked, the tears finally falling.

"I just, I wanted to give you something before you left," he said softly, "I mean, if you want it, you don't have to."

She looked up at him, "You what?"

"I, um, I bought this for you," he walked around behind her and reached to fasten a necklace around her neck.

It was a silver Sakura blossom on a intricate silver chain, she held it up to look at and a gasp fell from her lips.

Ryo looked embarrassed, "I know it's a bit delicate and you probably won't be able to wear it most of the time but I figured you should be able to when you're not on missions and stuff."

"It's beautiful," she wrapped him in a tight hug, "Thank you."

"Why didn't you want to see me?" he asked softly.

"I thought you would break up with me, I mean I've been keeping it from you this whole time and lying to you about all the little things. How could you possibly still like me after that? Plus with me having to go home I figured it'd be easier for you if you just told me you didn't want to see me ever again," she sniffled into his shoulder.

"Sakura, I would never do that, you mean way too much for me to do that. I… I've never felt this way about anyone before," he took a deep breath, "I love you."

She pulled away to look at him with wide eyes, "You do?"

"Yes," he smiled giving her a light kiss, "More than anything."

She laughed, "I'm sorry for being so silly. So, what happens now?"

"Well, first off we go eat lunch before the bell goes, and then I am fairly sure we both have classes," he told her seriously.

"Idiot," she said hitting him lightly, "I meant us, what do we do? I have to go back soon…"

"Well, I have to finish this last year of school, you have to complete your training. Would you mind if I come and visit you sometimes?" he asked watching her.

"I would love you to, and I'll come visit whenever I can," she gave him another quick kiss.

"And of course you still have my mobile number for whenever you need to talk," he hugged her and then pulled her to the door.

"My parents are going to kill me when they see the bill," she muttered.

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**Well hope you liked it. I needed to sort Sakura out, and before you complain about Sasuke and Naruto, they had a big day and I think their energy was a bit lacking to do anything serious.**

**Please review!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Hey, here it is, the first half of the end. I wrote it as one long chapter but it was way too long so I split into two. Don't worry I am uploading them both tonight PLease enjoy and review.**

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_Well he came down to earth and he lit in a tree I said Mr. Purple People Eater, don't eat me I heard him say in a voice so gruff I wouldn't eat you cuz you're so tough_

They all chuckled and looked at each other.

"I guess he was trying to be comforting in his own little way," Sasuke shook his head smiling.

"Finally!" Torya said yanking the door open, "I have been waiting for someone to press the bloody doorbell! That idiot had the nerve to bloody well knock. Can you imagine that? He bloody knocked, bastard."

The little group of ninjas chuckled at the offended expression on the boy's face.

"Love, you're blocking the doorway," hands wrapped around Torya's waist and pulled him back from the doorway so everyone could get in.

"Hi Jules," Sasuke greeted the blonde.

"Hi Sasuke, hi everyone else, I apologise for my idiot, he's been waiting for you guys, if you hadn't of pressed the bell I don't think he would have let you in," Jules chuckled. He released Torya and led them into the kitchen where everyone was sitting around the table.

Nico groaned when she realised Torya and Naruto hadn't yet made it to the kitchen, "Oh bloody hell, not again!"

"What's wrong?" Dan asked.

"Does he really have to explain it to both of them?" she let her head hit the table with a thud.

"You know that won't keep us here right?" Sasuke grinned at her.

"Yeah yeah, shut up," she sat up and stuck her tongue out at him.

A bright red Naruto walked in and took his seat next to the raven, a smirking Torya walked in sitting next to Jules.

"Well, who's ready to eat?" Ria asked with a smile.

OoOoO

"Wow that was incredible," Iruka said leaning back with a sigh.

"Thank you Iruka, it was the least I could do," Ria said with a grin, "Does anyone want any more? There's plenty left."

Everyone was quick to shake their heads and thank her.

Dan had began spending more and more time at Nico's house since the 'incident' as it was now called. He had found out a lot about his family from that.

"My mother was perfectly willing to sit back and watch what happened, she got upset when I interfered," Dan had told Naruto, shaking, "I just, I can't do that. Always watching never playing a part. That's why Tianna left you know, she made her decision and left me to make mine on my own. She knew I'd choose right and call her eventually, she couldn't stand not playing a role. That's why she's becoming a doctor, after all if she can see the results of the autopsy before its performed then she'll be able to save so many more people."

Ria had welcomed Dan into the home like one of her own and he now spent more time there then his own house, of course the fact that Nico lived there had also helped. The pair had become very close after the 'incident' although things were moving very slowly, Dan carried a lot of guilt and was no longer the same person they had knew. Naruto wished he could have done something to fix the change and help Dan go back to the happy carefree boy he had known but that would be impossible, for Naruto anyway.

"Don't worry," Nico told him confidently, "Come back and visit in a few months, I should have him sorted by then."

After dinner they said their goodbyes with the promise to return in the morning for breakfast before they left.

OoOoO

_This is our song of exultant joy because, we only came to kick some ass, rock the fuckin' house and kick some ass, what we gonna do with all the cash?_

The three teens burst out laughing as Iruka looked shocked and Kakashi hid a smile under his mask once more.

Torya pulled the door open grinning, "What did you think guys?"

"Absolutely perfect," Sasuke grinned, "Thanks man."

"You're welcome, come on in, everyone's waiting."

He let them in and they all went straight to the kitchen where the table was laden down with all sorts of different foods, as well as a vast selection of desserts.

There was a man standing at the stove, he turned and gave them a familiar smile they had seen many times on the face of his daughter, "We weren't sure what to cook so we cooked everything."

Ria smiled at their shocked faces, "This is my husband, Elin, honey this is everyone else."

He laughed, "Nice to meet you everyone else. It's ok don't worry about names, I'll forget them straight away anyway."

"Yeah, dad sucks with names," Kani said rolling his eyes.

"What's that George?" he asked, eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Idiot," Kani replied.

"Where do you think you get it from?"

They all laughed and took a seat, Ryo and Dan were there also and when they finished eating Sakura and Ryo slipped away for a little more private goodbye.

"Thank you so much for everything," Iruka said with a smile, "I know we all really appreciate it."

"I can't even tell you how grateful I am for what you did for our baby girl," Elin smiled, wrapping his arm around Ria's waist.

"We couldn't have done it without her," Sasuke smiled.

OoOoO

They walked into Konoha laden with enough leftovers to last them a lifetime. They were greeted by a number of familiar faces and Naruto's heart clenched in his chest.

Sasuke yearned to reach out a hand to the smaller boy but they were all occupied with Ria and Elin's cooking.

All of the rookie nine had gathered to welcome them back to the village, a number of smiles broke out.

"Welcome back Sasuke-kun!" Ino cheered.

Kiba looked at them suspiciously sniffing before he burst out laughing. Naruto gave him a slight smile, remembering the power of the dog boy's nose, obviously he didn't mind, it was just a matter of the other reactions now.

"Don't even bother," Kiba said rolling on the ground.

Ino looked at him, "What are you talking about dog breath?"

Sakura smirked and held up her necklace, "Hey Ino look what I got."

"Oh wow forehead its beautiful where'd you get it?" Ino said looking at it.

"It was a present from my boyfriend," she grinned.

"What? You mean you and… Sasuke-kun?" Ino looked horrified.

"Of course not, I finally realised I'm not exactly Sasuke's type," Sakura laughed.

"Took you long enough," Ino sniffed and Kiba burst out laughing all over again, "What's so funny dammit?"

"Uh Ino, I think Sasuke is kinda taken," Kiba gasped.

"What?" Ino wailed, "Who is she? I'll kill her!"

Sasuke smirked and leaned over to capture Naruto's lips in a chaste kiss, leaving the blonde blushing and staring at the ground worriedly.

"Don't worry Naruto, remember I'm always here," Sasuke whispered, Naruto gave him a small smile.

Kankuro walked up to wrap his arm around the finally standing Kiba, "Well Uchiha, I think we've effectively cut down someone's options," he smirked looking at the shell shocked Hinata.

"Bloody hell, are all the males in Konoha gay?" Ino wailed.

"Why do you think I outsourced?" Sakura smirked, noticing for the first time the males standing around in little pairs. The boys of Konoha smiled at their prospective partners.

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**Well I hope you liked it, hurry on and read the end where Sasuke and Naruto finally get their moment ;) Hope you enjoyed it! And yes, you finally got to meet their father :)  
**


	40. Chapter 40

**It's been a long time coming hasn't it? Both this chapter and the end of New Beginnings. I would just like to once again thank everyone who has ever read, reviewed and/or favourited. It really means a lot to me to know that my baby has been so well received. I hope you like the end of New Beginnings. It's been quite a ride and I have enjoyed every second of it.  
**

**So for the last time: Hope you enjoy it!**

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Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when he closed the door behind them.

"That was easier than I thought it would be," Naruto said putting his various parcels down on the table before he collapsed on the couch.

"I told you it would be fine," Sasuke smiled joining him, "Although I didn't see Kiba and Kankuro coming."

"Guess they must have had a mission in Suna while we were gone," Naruto laughed.

"Poor Hinata," Sasuke smirked, "That's cut down her options a lot."

"What do you mean?" the blonde asked in confusion, Sasuke laughed and leaned in to capture his lips, they slowly opened their mouths and languidly enjoyed what the other had to offer. Sasuke slid his arms down Naruto's sides to rest on his hips.

When they pulled apart Naruto stood and held his hand out to Sasuke.

"Would you like to… stay over tonight?" he asked softly.

A gentle smile crossed the raven's face, "For as long as you want me."

He took Naruto's hand and the blonde led him into his bedroom, he sat on the edge of his bed and Sasuke joined him leaning in to kiss his way up Naruto's throat to meet lips again.

The blonde trailed his fingers gently up Sasuke's torso memorising the movements of the muscles under his hands as he dragged the shirt upwards, fingers ghosting lightly over pink nipples, they pulled apart and he ran his hands up the length of Sasuke's arms and they both tossed the shirt aside. The raven traced the same path up Naruto's body, only stopping to trace circles around the boy's brown nipples before he lifted his hands so he could entwine their fingers together. Tonight they would enjoy everything their bodies had to offer, taking their time to finally worship each other properly unlike their last rushed experimentation, this would be slow and carefree.

Sasuke rested his hands on Naruto's tanned stomach and ran his hands smoothly around his hipbones to settle on the small of his back. He hooked his fingers through the belt loops and pulled his blonde closer so they could taste each other once more, as if the taste would disappear if they didn't renew it often enough. His hands trailed once more around to the front and slid lower to undo the button and slowly lower the zip of Naruto's fly. The blonde stood up and moved in front of Sasuke who turned to slip his hands under the pants and slid them slowly to the floor so Naruto could step out of them. The Uchiha stood and turned Naruto around and pushed him so he was lying on the bed, resting one hand on Naruto's stomach he leaned down to renew the flavour of his boyfriend in his mouth.

He pulled away and let his hand move downwards so he could free the blonde from the straining fabric. He watched Naruto spring free from his underwear as he slid them slowly and sensually down his legs, rubbing his hands over the muscles before finally letting them fall to the floor. He stood back to admire the picture of perfection which lay before him. Naruto Uzimaki laid out on the bed, every inch of tanned flesh sculpted to perfection, his eyes traced over the blonde hair which trailed down into a nest of curly blonde hair which surrounded the base of Naruto's erection. He knelt down to lick at the salty liquid which dribbled from the tip, smiling at the taste that was purely Naruto. He watched the blonde's abs bunch up appetisingly as he leaned up on his elbows so he could see the raven, he gasped when Sasuke swirled his tongue around the tip.

Naruto sat up and pulled Sasuke up so he could start to undo the button on his pants, the raven stopped his hands.

"Wait a second," he leaned to kiss the blonde chastely before he walked out.

He returned a little later with a small tube from his bag.

"A little going away gift from Torya," he chuckled tossing it onto the bed.

Naruto smiled and wrapped his arms around Sasuke's waist to pull him closer so he could work on his pants once more. He undid the zip and palmed the Uchiha through his underwear before he ran his hands silkily over the muscles in the pale legs, trailing his fingertips gently over the back of Sasuke's knees, the boy trembled slightly under his touch. When the pants touched the floor Sasuke obediently stepped out and kicked them away. Naruto's hands immediately let Sasuke free before his hands slid around to the boy's back to rub his way down between Sasuke's arse cheeks as he took the tip of his length into his mouth, he let the underwear fall to the ground then took a deep breath before he quickly swallowed all of Sasuke until he could bury his nose into the tight little curls of raven hair at the base, he breathed deeply the scent of Sasuke even as he tasted the dribble of liquid in the back of his throat. He slowly pulled back back licking his lips, he knew how sensitive they both were and he didn't want the night to be over so soon.

Naruto laid back on the bed and handed Sasuke the little tube.

"You won the race remember?" he smiled gently.

"Of course I do," he chuckled taking the tube and unscrewed the lid before he squirted a little of the liquid on his fingers letting it warm up from his body heat. He leaned over and kissed a trail of kisses up the blonde hair until he reached Naruto's bellybutton. He dipped his tongue in and felt the little convulsion of the blonde under him. He continued his kisses until he found a dark nipple and traced around it with his tongue before he took it into his mouth, teasing the sensitive flesh with every weapon at his disposal. His fingers played with the other nipple, tracing around it with the lube and rolling it between his fingers. He continued his trail until he reached Naruto's mouth, recapturing the taste before he moved to nibble at the tanned ear, his hand ghosted its way downward over the trail he had made and slipped past the blonde hair and straining erection until it found the puckered entrance. He traced a finger round and around to try and relax the muscle slightly before he gently pushed at the muscle to allow his fingertip to enter the blonde. Naruto gasped and Sasuke captured his lips once more. He pushed in further and started to stretch the muscle slowly and carefully, sliding the finger in and out rubbing his finger gently over Naruto's inner walls trying to bring to life the nerve that Torya said was present in everyone. When Naruto bucked his hips slightly he continued to rub at the spot until the blonde gasped, while he was distracted he slid in a second finger gently stretching the hole more, he began scissoring his fingers and pushed at the prostate and sealed his mouth to Naruto's when it was time to add the third finger.

Naruto was aware of the slight pain amongst the haze of pleasure Sasuke was creating. His hips bucked every time the raven touched that secret button hidden within him. He whimpered slightly when the Uchiha finally withdrew his fingers. Naruto was vaguely aware of Sasuke squirting more of the liquid into his hand and covering himself with it. Then Sasuke lifted his legs over his shoulders and positioned himself at the blonde's entrance.

"Are you ready love?" he asked gently. The blonde nodded wordlessly, all words had long been abandoned.

Sasuke slowly began to slide his length into the warm body, every muscle yearning to just slam all the way in. When he was half way in he stopped to let the blonde adjust, Naruto took deep breaths and tried to relax before he nodded his permission to continue. Sasuke kept sliding in until he was seated fully inside of Naruto and could feel his inner walls tensing and relaxing around him. It was like heaven. Both boys were breathing heavily and Naruto's hand moved to touch Sasuke's to signal he was ready.

The Uchiha pulled out until he was almost free of Naruto and then slammed all the way back in in one fluid motion, both boys gasped their eyes wide, this was what they had craved so long. They looked in each other's eyes and saw the emotions overflowing between them. Sasuke pulled out and pushed in once more, this time aiming for the spot he knew would bring Naruto the most pleasure. He hit it smoothly causing Naruto's back to arch in pleasure, his mouth wide in surprised pleasure. The Uchiha tried to get into a rhythm, in his inexperience he wasn't able to hit Naruto's prostate dead on every time instead sometimes he would brush gently, teasingly against it the next time he would hit it dead on and cause the blonde to see stars.

Sasuke let his hand trail down to slide over Naruto's length down to the base where he gently fondled his balls before he moved back to slide up and down Naruto's erection trying to draw them both to the edge. He could feel himself drawing close and he guessed from Naruto's expression that the blonde was almost there also. He sped up his strokes as he got wilder and wilder as he neared his breaking point.

Naruto came first with a force strong enough to make him see stars behind his eyelids as his seed splashed over both of their stomachs with a cry of, "Sasuke!"

The blonde's inner walls clenched tightly around Sasuke and he managed only two more strokes before he followed the blonde over the edge screaming out his name in return. He felt his cum shoot deeply into the blonde and tilted his hips so he could the prostate with the stream of liquid, causing the blonde to tense even more tightly around him. Together they rode out the waves of pleasure as they wracked their bodies. When only spasms were left Sasuke carefully pulled himself out of the blonde so he could collapse beside him. Their arms wrapped around each other immediately and they kissed languidly once more before sleep took them.

OoOoO

**One Year Later**

"You have been requested for a very special mission Iruka. You won't be paid, but it will take a very long time, hopefully your entire life," the Hokage gave him a very serious look.

OoOoO

"You bastard! You…you…oooh!" Iruka seethed throwing things at the silver haired ninja.

"What's the matter Ruka honey?" he grinned, dodging missiles.

"YOU GOT THE HOKAGE TO PROPOSE TO ME YOU UNROMANTIC BASTARD!"

He rubbed the back of his neck ruefully, "I couldn't think of any other way of doing it."

"How about the old fashioned way," Iruka panted after wearing himself out, "Getting down on one knee and just asking!"

Kakashi walked over and knelt down grabbing one of the brunette teacher's hands in his own, "Iruka, I love you more than anyone or anything in this world, Will you please consent to be mine and mine alone for the rest of eternity?"

"I don't know if I should now," Iruka muttered, he looked down at the puppy look the older man gave him. He couldn't help the smile and chuckle that appeared unbidden, "Of course I will you silly man. I love you too."

He pulled his fiancé up into a hug.

"I still think my other way was better," Kakashi murmured into his neck.

"Well I prefer this way," Iruka said giving him a quick slap across the back of the head. Kakashi grinned and kissed his neck gently and sucked softly at the pulse point, Iruka tilted his head back and-

_-baby, I can't hold it much longer. It's getting stronger and stronger, and when I get that feeling, I want Sexual-_

"SASUKE UCHIHA GET YOUR ARSE DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Iruka yelled.

"BUT IT WAS THE DOBE THIS TIME, I'M INNOCENT," he yelled back before muttering, "This time…"

He walked back into their bedroom with a smirk.

Kakashi just shook his head and opened the door, used to the conflict in his now busy household, he found a shocked looking mailman on the doorstep.

"Don't worry about them," Kakashi grinned, "What have you got for us?"

"Uh, I just have a parcel for a Miss Sakura Haruno," the nervous looking man answered holding it out.

Kakashi signed quickly so the man could make his escape.

"NARUTO! IT'S MY TURN ON THE PHONE, I TOTALLY SHOTGUNNED IT AND EVERYTHING!" Sakura screeched at the blonde.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT DAN CALLED BEFORE YOU COULD CALL YOUR LITTLE BOYFRIEND," Naruto yelled back.

"HE IS NOT LITTLE!"

"I DON'T WANT TO KNOW THAT!"

"SAKURA! There's a parcel here from your parents!" Kakashi yelled trying to cut in over the noise.

Instantly the fight was over, she bounced over the jounin, "Thanks Kashi."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her back before going back to his phone conversation.

Iruka came up behind Kakashi and wrapped his arms around his fiancé's waist, "Do you regret it?"

The older man leaned back into his embrace, "Soundproofing our bedroom? Not even slightly."

* * *

**Hope you liked it guys! Please leave me one last review for old times sake and to say your goodbyes to my baby. Also I have to say I had a slight ulterior motive for splitting this chapter in two, that takes this story up to 40 chapters in total. I couldn't resist :)  
**

**Nigellica**


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